61ST Congress, I ^-^^ SENATE. I Document 

2d Session. \ ' 1 No. 378. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

Mr. McCuMBER presented the following , -^ .^ 

HISTORY OF CERTAIN FEDERAL TROOPS WHICH, BY REASON OP 
SHORT OR DISPUTED SERVICE, HAVE NO PENSIONABLE STATUS, 
AND STATE MILITIAS WHICH WERE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN 
THE CIVIL WAR FOR DIFFERENT PERIODS OF TIME, BUT WHICH 
WERE NEVER MUSTERED INTO THE SERVICE, AND WHICH, 
THEREFORE, HAVE NO PENSIONABLE STATUS. 



February 22, 1910. — Ordered to be printed. 



In view of the fact that numerous bills have been introduced 
during the present and preceding Congresses to give a pensionable 
status to certain troops, the Committee on Pensions have prepared 
the following statement regarding the services of such troops, and 
after a complete investigation it would seem that if any legislation 
of this character -is enacted, such legislation should be extended to 
include all such troops, instead of giving a pensionable status to some 
particular company or organization. 

1 here were, as is w^ell known, many persons engaged in some sense 
in the war of the rebellion as members of state militia, home guards, 
and other state military organizations who were not regularly en- 
listed and mustered into the military service of the United States. 
Ihey were called out and served in various emergencies during the 
war. Some of these rendered very valuable service, fighting in 
battle and incurring wounds and injuries, while the service of others 
was of a minor and trivial character. Ih?. border States principally 
and the Northern States in which hostilities actually occurred were 
the scenes of their operations and their services were called for by the 
governors of such States for general and special service therein, 
though at times the service rendered became incidentally of a national 
character. 

An efficient force of militia of the State of Pennsylvania was called 
out for a short period at the time of the battle of Antietam, and while 
none of them, it appears, was engaged in that fight a portion of them 
stood in line of battle in close proximity to the field in readiness to 
advance while the battle was in progress. So also were Pennsyl- 
vania mifitia called into service in 1863, at the time of Lee's campaign 
in Maryland and Pennsylvania, which culminated in the battle of 
Gettysburg, and they gave great moral support and rendered impor- 
tant service to the Union Army engaged in that fierce conflict. 
Other States furnished militia at the same time. 



S^ 2- "< 1 



2 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

In the border States numerous state militia and home-guard organi- 
zations were maintained. This was notably so in Missouri and Ken- 
tucky, States in which many raids and invasions by the enemy occurred. 
West Virginia maintained a body of mihtia, as also did Indiana, and 
they were called into service hi* times of various emergencies, espe- 
cially in cavalry raids made by the enemy into loyal territory; and 
other States called into their service emergency troops at various 
critical times, their service being rendered in part in defense of the 
States wherein organized and in part in defense of the interests of 
the Federal Government. 

In the border States the militia and home guards were frequently 
engaged in most terrible warfare, and their services in many in 
stances in the protection of their own and the adjacent territory 
from assaults of guerrillas was rendered under conditions which tested 
to the utmost their faith in and loyalty to the General Government 

The following, taken from Wihiani F. Fox's Regimental Losses in 
the American Civil War, pages 536-537, is to an extent descriptive 
of the loyalty of the people of the border States: 

While the more northern States were confronted with the questions of a war, the 
border States had to deal with the additional and more serious ones arising from ai 
civil war— a strife in which brother would be arrayed against brother, neighbor against 1 
neighbor, and which would be characterized by all the terrible and distracting scenes 
engendered by such a contest. They were slave-holding States, but they resisted.' 
all importunities to join the Confederacy, and remained loyal to the Union, although i 
■they knew full well that such action would transfer the war to their own fields. Mis- 
souri knew that by remaining in the Union her counties would be overrun by guerrilla 
bands and predatory invasions; Kentucky sturdily refused all overtures from the 
Confederacy, although it was plain that the State would thus become once more 
"the dark and bloody battleground" of history; Maryland remained steadfast, and" 
her fields resounded with the tread of armies and the roar of battle; and in West 
Virginia loyal regiments were formed of refugees who had left their homes, their; 
fields, and barns in the hands of. a ruthless enemy. It meant something to be loyal I 
on the border. 

And yet these States responded promptly to the calls of the National Government! 
for troops, one of them surpassing all others in its lavish supply of men and money, 
while the others filled their quotas and did it without a bounty or a draft. The slave- 
holding States of Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Ken- 
tucky, and Missouri not only remained true to the old flag, but furnished 301,062 
men for the loyal support of an administration that received scarcely a vote within 
all their borders. 

That the state militia, state military organizations, and home 
guards on many occasions rendered valuable and eilicient service 
to the United States and to the States in which they were organized, 
sometimes within the limits of those States and again beyond their 
borders, is undoubted, and there is abundant evidence thereof. In 
Missouri and Kentucky, for instance, it may safely be said that the 
holding of those States in the Union was due to their success in 
crushing out the disloyal and secession sentiment then prevailing 
in many localities. In some cases there was but little fighting, but 
they were often used as guards at various points, relieving troops 
of the Union Army and enabling the latter to proceed to the front. 
An article on "Ninety days' men of 1863, by one of them," pub- 
lished in the United Service Magazine of August, 1894, gives a full 
description of their services in the Gettysburg campaign. This payr 
says : I 

With little exception the militia was not brought into mortal conflict, but they \ 
down along the Potomac to do as ordered. 



1 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 3 

They were moved indiscriminately through Maryland, Pennsyl- 
v^ania, and some even to Virginia and Ohio. They were under orders 
af otUcers of the United States. 

There were also numerous militia troops furnished the General 
Grove rnment in response to the calls of the President, and a distinction 
is to be drawn between the military status, in respect to the United 
States, of the militia so called out and those called by the various 
2;overnors for state service. The authority to provide for calling thfe 
militia or military organizations of a State into the federal service is 
vested by the Constitution in Congress. The execution of this power 
was provided for by what is known as "section 1642, Revised 
Statutes," but more recently by act of Congress approved Jamiary 21, 
1903, entitled "An act to promote the efhciency of the militia, and 
for other purposes." By these laws the authority to call into the 
federal service the militia and military organizations of a State has 
been by Congress vested in and delegated to the President of the 
United States. 

The state militia or state military organizations that were called 
into service by the President of the United States, and responding to 
said call entered into service, became a part of the Federal Army. 
They became United States troops and then formed a part of the 
military establishment of the United States and were exclusively 
subject to the military control or direction of the United States. 
These troops were on the same footing, practically, as those directly 
and regularly enlisted and mustered into the military service of the 
United States, regulars and volunteers, and were subject to the same 
rules and regulations, the Articles of War, and the laws made and 
provided for the better government of the permanent and temporary 
military establishment of the United States. 

As regards the militia and military organizations called out by the 
governors of the various States for service in such States they were 
on an entirely different footing. These were strictly state troops, 
mustered in by the States in companies and regiments, received their pay 
from the States, made their reports to the state adjutant-generals, 
and were mustered out and discharged by the States. It is true 
many of them were at times under orders of officers of the United 
States and sent beyond the limits of their States, but this was de- 
manded by the exigencies of the occasions and in nowise changed 
their military status from that of state troops. These troops were 
not enlisted by the Unites States; the service rendered was usually 
for short periods and at varying intervals, and they were not bound 
for the long terms of enlistment usual during the war. After the war 
the General Government, by authority of Congress, reimbursed the 
States for the amounts expended in paying state militia and state 
military organizations, the muster rolls being received as vouchers; 
beyond doubt they were state militia in the full sense of the term, 
though many of them rendered service directly in the interest of the 
United States. They were undoubtedly in the service of the United 
States in the sense that they performed military duty for the United 
?.^ates, but not in that service in the sense that they were troops of 
m ? United States or formed part of its permanent or temporary 
Ge jtary establishment. 

taifhe distinction between militiamen not in the military service of 
Ot3 United States, although employed by it in a military capacity 



4 FEDERAL, AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

and commanded by United States officers, and militiamen or volun- 
teers actually in the military service of the United States, is very 
clearly shown by one of the basic pension laws, section 4693, Revised 
Statutes, fullv set forth hereinafter. In that law full recognition 
is given to the militiamen in the military service of the United States, 
whereas but limited recognition is accorded to the militiamen not 
in the military service of the United States although employed by 
it in a military capacity and comrhanded b}^ United States officers. 

PRIOR EFFORTS AT LEGISLATION. 

Quite a number of bills have been introduced in Congress during 
the last ten years or so designed to give something of a military 
status as of the service of^the United States to the officers and men 
of the state militia and state military organizations called into 
service during the war by the governors of the various States. Some 
of these bills confined their benefits to certain Penns3dvania State 
Militia, particularly those called out in the emergency of 1863. 
Other bills were framed to give recognition to the militia organiza- 
tions of any State called out by the state authorities at any time 
during the w^ar under similar circumstances. In the Fifty-fourth 
Congress, House resolution No. 51, entitled ''A bill for the recog- 
nition of the military service of the officers and enlisted men of 
certain Pennsylvania military organizations," was favorably reported 
from the House Committee on ^lilitary Affairs, with amendments 
making it applicable to any militia of any State and giving certifi- 
cates of honorable service according to the service performed. In 
the Fifty-sixth Congress a similar bill (S. 394) was adversely re- 
ported from the Senate Committee on ^Military Afl'airs. The report 
(S. Kept. 899) on this latter bill contained a statement from the 
Acting Chief of the Record and Pension Office of the War Depart- 
ment embodying a history of former proposed legislation in respect 
of this matter with pertinent comments relative thereto. That 
statement is in part as follows: 

Recognition of the military service of the officers and enlisted men of certain Pennsylvania 

military organizations. 

A number of bills have been introduced in both Houses of Congress in recent years 
having for their object a limited recognition by the United States Government of the 
military services of the officers and enlisted men of certain Pennsylvania State Militia 
organizations that were called out by the governor of Pennsylvania for the defense 
of that State during the emergency o'f 1863; also at least two other measures of wider 
scope, which included militia organizations of any State, called out by the governor 
of the State at any time during the civil war under similar circumstances. Of those 
measures, no one of which has been enacted into law, the following named have been 
brought to the attention of this department, and some of them have been the sub- 
jects of reports by this department to both Houses of Congress: 

House bill No. 8878, P'ifty-third Congress, third session, one of the earliest intro- 
duced on the subject, provided that the officers and enlisted men of the Pennsyl- 
vania Militia, furnished under the call made therefor by the President on the 15th 
day of June, 1863, and by the governor of Pennsylvania on the 26th day of June, 
1863, and which rendered actual military service under the command of officers of 
the United States and in connection with the regularly organized military force of 
the United States, should be held and considered to have been in the military service 
of the United States and should be furnished with discharge certificates by the Sec- 
retary of War. A' full report on the legislation proposed in that bill was furnished 
the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, February 20, 1895. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITAKY ORGANIZATIONS. 5 

Senate bill No. 2761, Fifty-third Congress, third session, was of similar import to 
House bill 8878, same session. A full report on the Senate bill was also furnished 
the Committee on Military Affairs, Ifnited States Senate, February 10, ]8!)5. 

House bill No. 51, Fifty-fourth Conj^ress, first session, was of nearly the same im- 
port as the bills above mentioned, but omitted the words "and by the governor of 
Pennsylvania on the 2Gth day of June, 1863," and provided that the ])roposed bene- 
ficiaries should have been "honorably discharged" members of state organizations. 
That bill is the subject of House Report No. 1694, same session, which report em- 
bodies, among other things, a copy of the report of this department of February 16, 

1895, above mentioned, and of a letter of the Secretary of War, dated January 11, 

1896, in connection with a similar measure, H. R. 3358, same session. 

House bill No. 3358, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session, was of practically the same 
import as the measure last above mentioned, except that it described the proposed 
beneficiaries in the same language as did H. R. 8878, first above mentioned. In 
connection with H. R. 3358 the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, House 
of Representatives, having requested an expression of the views of this department 
as to the reason for the proposed legislation, a letter, which is above referred to, was 
addressed to him by the Secretary of War, as follows: 

War Department, 
Washington Oily, January 11, 1896. 

Sir: Referring to your letter of tlie 8th instant, in which you request to be advised 
what reason there is for the legislation proposed in H. R. No. 3358, providing "for 
the recognition of the military service of the officers and enlisted men of certain 
Pennsylvania military organizations," I beg to invite your attention to the report of 
February 16, 1895, from this department, on H. R. No. 8878, Fifty-third Congress, 
third session, which contains all necessary information relative to the organization and 
service of this force. 

The members of the force, it is presumed, have received all the pay and allowances 
generally pavable to militia in the military service of the United States for the same 
period, and it is understood that by a decision of the Assistant Secretary of the Inte- 
rior (No. 93, of March 3, 1892, in the case of Randolph M. Manley) they have been 
given a pensionable status. Whether this ruling still holds is unknown to this depart- 
ment. However, it is expressly provided in the bill that the proposed legislation 
shall carry with it no pay, pension, bounty, or allowances. Its object and effect 
appear to be sentimental rather than practical, giving to the surviving members of 
this militia force only such prestige as follows from the service in and honorable dis- 
charge from the military establishment of the United States, including, it is presumed, 
a certain standing which they do not now possess in relation to the patriotic societies 
composed of ex-soldiers of the late war. 

Very respectfully, Daniel S. Lamont, 

Secretary of War. 

The Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, 

House of Representatives. 

Senate bill No. 1363, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session; Senate bill No. 1278, Fifty- 
fifth Congress, first session; and House bill No. 8808, Fifty-fifth Congress, second ses- 
sion, were of the same import as House bill No. 3358, above mentioned. 

Senate bill No. 1286 and House bill No. 1092, Fifty-fifth Congress, first session, had 
in view the same object as the other measures above mentioned, but provided that the 
beneficiaries should include the officers and enlisted men of military organizations 
which were furnished by any State under call made therefor by the President and by 
the governor of such State, and which rendered actual military service outside their 
respective States under the command of officers of the United States and in connection 
with the regularly organized military forces of the United States. 

House bill No. 1065, of much wider scope than any of the bills hereinbefore men- 
tioned, was introduced in the House of Representatives, F'ifty-fifth Congress, first 
session, and has been reintroduced in the present session of the Fifty-sixth Congress 
as H. R. 4457, providing for similar relief for the "officers and enlisted men of militia 
organizations which were furnished by any State under the call made therefor by tho 
President and the governor," no restriction being provided in said bills, as in the bill 
now under consideration, as to military service, "beyond the confines of the State." 

The Senate bill now under consideration, relating, as it does, to the Pennsylvania 
Militia of 1863, materially reduces the application of the proposed legislation aa 
originally formulated by restricting it, first, to the Pennsylvania Militia of 1863, 
and, second, to members of such organizations as under certain conditions "rendered 
actual military service beyond the confines of the State of Pennsylvania." 



6 FEDERAL. AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

■ Touching the question of the advisability of the legislation proposed in this bill, it 
is deemed proper to state that if it is to be enacted for the benefit of the Pennsylvania 
Militia of 1863, no reason appears why it should not be extended to any other militia 
which, under similar circumstances, rendered actual military service beyond the 
confines of the State. 

With reference to all the measures under discussion, it is to be considered that 
none of the troops for whose benefit the legislation is proposed were in fact in the 
military service of the United States, and that, owing to the meagerness of authentic 
record of the individual services of the officers and enlisted men of state militia 
organizations, it can not be stated with any degree of certainty, nor can it now be 
even approximated, to what extent it would be possible to carry such legislation into 
effect, for the reasons, first, that it would be difficult in many cases to determine 
what officers and enlisted men had been honorably discharged by the State from the 
state service, and, second, that there is a lack of sufficient data in this department 
for the preparation of the discharge certificates provided for in the pending bill. 
And with reference to the particular measure now under consideration, it is doubtful 
whether it can be determined with any degree of certainty from the official records 
of this department what organizations of Pennsylvania Militia of 1863 did or did 
not render actual military service beyond the confines of the State of Pennsylvania 
under the conditions mentioned in the bill. 

It is deemed proper to further remark that the particular clasvs of the Pennsylvania 
State Militia of 1863, for whose benefit the legislation proposed in the bill now under 
consideration is intended, was not brought into service under the call of the Presi- 
dent of June 15, 1863, as stated in the bill, but under the call of the governor alone — 
the call of June 26, 1863. 

A history, so far as known to this department, of that class of the Pennsylvania 
State Militia called out during the emergency of 1863, of which the proposed bene- 
ficiaries in this bill formed a part — sometimes known as the "ninety-day State 
Militia" — is contained in a letter from this Office to the Commissioner of Pensions 
dated February 13, 1899, a copy of which accompanies this report. 

Respectfully submitted. 

John Tweedale, 
Acting Chief Record and Pension Office. 

Record and Pension Office, 

War Department, March 1, 1900. 

The Secretary of War. 

As is very properly observed in the foregoing statement no reason 
iappears why any legislation deemed proper in the interest of the 
Pennsylvania State Militia should not be extended to include other 
state militia that rendered similar service. It is also observed how 
difficult it would be, because of the incompleteness of records in the 
War Department, to carry such legislation into effect; in fact it 
seems almost impracticable to do so with equal justice to all concerned. 

PENSIONABLE STATUS. 

The pensionable status of the various militiamen is determined by 
sections 4693 and 4722 of the Revised Statutes and by the act of 
Congress approved February 15, 1895. 

The first subdivision of section 4693, Revised Statutes, confers a 
pensionable status upon — 

any officer of the Army, including Regulars, Volunteers, and militia, or any officer in 
the Navy or Marine Corps, or any enlisted man, however employed, in the military 
or naval service of the United States or in its Marine Corps, whether regularly mustered 
or not, disabled by reason of any wound or injury received or disease contracted while 
in the service of the United States and in line of duty. 

Under this subdivision the state militia or state military organiza- 
tions called into the service of the United States by the President 
have a pensionable status. As before observed the state militia or 
state military organizations thus called into the service of the United 
States became a part of the military establishment of the United 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 7 

States just the same as its Regulars and Volunteers and the members 
thereof are entitled to the benefits of the pension laws in precisely 
the same manner and under the same conditions as those who were 
regularly enlisted directly into the United States armies. They 
were in fact volunteers of the United States and served as such and 
are entitled to the benefits provided by law for such service. Their 
title to pension, not only under the general law, but also under the 
act of June 27, 1890, is fully recognized. 

B}" section 4722, Revised Statutes, a pensionable status under 
the general law w-as given to the officers and men of the Missouri 
State Militia and the provisional Missouri Militia, and by a joint 
resolution approved February 15, 1895, the benefits of the act of June 
27, 1890, were extended to the members of these organizations. 
The pensionable status given the members of these organizations 
was probably due in part to the fact that they were made up as a 
"picked force," organized under an agreement between Governor 
Gamble of Missouri and President Lincoln, and also in part to the 
fact that their service was of a more permanent character than was 
usual to militia troops. 

The third subdivision of section 4693, Revised Statutes, provided 
a pensionable status for — - 

any person not an enlisted soldier in the army, serving for the time being as a 
member of the militia of any State, under orders of an officer of the United States, or 
who volunteered for the time being to serve with any regularly organized military 
or naval force of the United States, or who otherwise volunteered and rendered 
service in an engagement with rebels or Indians, disabled in consequence of wounds 
or injurA' received in the line of duty in such temporary service. But no claim of 
a state militiaman or nonenlisted person on account of disability from wounds or 
injury received in battle with rebels or Indians, while temporarily rendering service, 
shall be valid unless prosecuted to a successful issue prior to the fourth day of July, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-four. 

This is the law under wdiich state militiamen not in the military 
service of the United States, although employed by it in a mifitary 
capacity and commanded by United States officers, were pensioned. 
The limitations contained in this law markedly narrow^ed its benefits. 
It gave a pensionable status to the member of a mifitia of any State 
serving under orders of an officer of the United States who became 
disabled in consequence of woimds or injury received in battle with 
rebels or Indians, but onl}^ in case the claim was filed and success- 
fully completed prior to the 4th day of July, 1874. For any disability 
other than wounds or injur}" received as specified no provision was 
made, nor is any claim for any disability vahd if filed on or since 
July 4, 1874, or filed, but not completed, prior to that date, so that 
it ma)^ be said that at the present date no pensionable status exists 
for any member of any state mifitia not cafied into service by the 
President of the United States, no matter when, where, or under 
what circumstances such militia service was rendered or disability 
was incurred. The act of June 27, 1890, provides no pensionable 
benefits for such militiamen. 

A clear and concise statement of the pensionable rights of the mem- 
bers of the various state militia and state military organizations, 
both under the first and third subdivisions of section 4693, Revised 
Statutes, and also under section 4722, Revised Statutes, and the acts 
of June 27, 1890, and February 15, 1895, together with a citation of 
numerous decided cases, is contained in a decision of Assistant Secre- 



8 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

tary of the Interior John M. Reynolds, dated April 14, 1897, in case 
of James L. Hicks and reported in volume 8 of Pension Decisions, 
pages 518 et seq. This decision is in part as follows: 

The question of the pensionable status of members of various state militia and 
state military organizations has been frequently before the department, and it is 
believed that a brief setting forth of certain principles and a citation of cases in con- 
nection with such claims will prove beneficial in order that a proper understanding 
of the laws applicable to such cases may be had, not only as regards those individ- 
uals who were members of Missouri organizations, but also members of militia or 
military organizations of other States as well. 

The first and third subdivisions of section 1693 of the Revised Statutes bestow a 
pensionable status upon certain classes of soldiers and individuals whose military 
service may be termed to have been an irregular service, and the following is directed 
to the pensionable status, as to service only, of such classes of soldiers as are em- 
braced in the said subdivisions of such sections: 

The first subdivision bestows a pensionable status upon "any enlisted man, how- 
ever employed in the military or naval serAace of the United States, or in its Marine 
Corps, whether regularly mustered or not." 

Under this subdivision, so far as state militia or state military organizations are 
concerned, is embraced any soldier whose organization was (although not a part of 
the Regular or Volunteer Army) called into the federal service. 

The authority to provide for calling the militia or military organizations of a State 
into the federal service is vested by the Constitution in Congress. (Art. I, sec. 8, 
fifteenth enumerated power.) Congress has provided for the execution of this power 
in what is known as section 1642, Revised Statutes, which is Aartually a reenactment 
of the act of February 28, 1795. This statute has been construed by the Supreme 
Court of the United States in Martin v. Mott (Wheatou 19), in which opinion it was 
concluded, the entire court concurring, that the authority to call into the federal 
service military organizations of a State has been by Congress vested in and delegated 
to the President of the United States. 

Provided, then, that the said militia or military organization was called into service 
by the President, said organization was then part of the Federal Army, and the soldier 
who was a member of such organization is entitled to the same benefits of the pension 
laws as tho.^e who were regularly mustered. 

Subdivision 3 of said section bestows, first, a pensionable status upon "any person, 
not an enlisted soldier in the array, service for the time being as a member of the 
militia of any State, under orders of an officer of the United States;" and second, it 
bestows a pensionable status upon any person who "volunteered for the time being 
to serve with any regularly organized military or naval force of the United States or 
who otherwise volunteered and rendered service in any engagement with rebels or 
Indians, disabled in consequence of wounds or injuries received in the line of duty in 
such temporary service." 

A limitation, however, is put upon both classes of those claiming under subdivision 
3, which limitation cuts off the pensionable status unless said person received a "dis- 
ability from wounds or injuries received in battle with rebels or Indians while tem- 
porarily rendering service," and that no claim of the afore.said j)ersons "shall be valid 
unless prosecuted to a successful issue prior to the 4th day of July, 1874." 

It is readily seen by the above that there are two classes embraced under subdi- 
vision 3. The first class covers those who were militiamen, and the second class 
those who rendered personal service, independent of the fact that they were mem- 
bers of any military organization. It therefore follows that in adjudicating claims 
of militiamen who claim under either subdivision, by reason of their being mem- 
bers of certain organizations, it is necessary in order to establish a pensionable status 
that the claimant's military organization must have been legally placed or served 
under the direct authority of an officer of the United States; and further, the limi- 
tations in subdivision 3 cover all who claim under said subdivision, whether they 
claim by reason of being members of militia, or by reason of individual service. 

The test, then, to be applied, when one claims pension under the general law by 
reason of the fact that he was a member of a state militia, is twofold. First, was the 
militia of which he was a member called into service by the President of the United 
States? If so, the claimant has a pensionable status under subdivision 1, section 
4693 of the Revised Statutes; and, second, if the above is answered in the negative, 
the test is, was the militia of which he was a member acting under orders of an officer 
of the United States during the time at which he alleges incurrence of wound or 
injury? If this is jiroved in the affirmative, claimant has a pensionable status as a 
member of class 1, subdivision 3, section 4693 of the Revised Statutes. But it is to 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. y 

be specially noled that no claimant has a pensionable status under either class of 
subdivision 3 unless he has incurred a wound or injury in battle with rebels or Indians, 
and that, furthermore, the claim must be prosecuted to a successful issue prior to 
July 4, 1874. 

Applying the al)ove tests, o})inions have been rendered regarding the status of 
certain military organizations falling under section 4093, to which refeicnce is hereby 
made, as follows: 

[Subdivision 1, secliou 4693, Revised Statutes.] 

iMilitia called out and mustered into service under the President's proclamation of 
April 15, 1861, and who may be disabled in the service, are entitled to pension benefits 
of the second section of the act of August 2, 1813. (Atty. Gen. Bates, 10 Op., 197;) 

Sixth Regiment of Delaware Volunteers was mustered into the service of the Fed- 
eral Government, and members of said regiment have pensionable status under the 
general law. Dicta in Sarah A. Kersey (Asst. Sec. Bussey, C P. D., p. 1). 

Company A, Indiana Legion, was never in the service of the Federal Government. 
Widow of G. W. Devine (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 112 L. B., 461). 

Company B, North Cumberland Battalion, Kentucky State Guards, was never in 
the Federal service. Robert Baldwin (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 114 L. B., 225i). 

Company F, Sixty-fifth Kentucky Enrolled Militia, was never in Federal service. 
Jonathan Stanboy (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 113 h. B., 96). • , ^u 

Company H, Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Militia, was called into service by the 
President of the United States, and members thereof have pensionable status under 
the first subdivision of section 4693, Revised Statutes. B. F. Beazel (Asst. Sec. 
Bussey, 5 P. D., 384). , „ j • . 

Forty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia Volunteers, was called into service 
by the President of the United States, and members of it are within the first subdi- 
vision of section 4693, Revised Statutes. Randolph M. Manly (Asst. Sec. Bussey, 
5 P. D., 295). 

Colonel McLane's Erie Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, was solely a state organi- 
zation and was never in the Federal service, never did any service for the federal 
Government, and members thereof have no pensionable status. A. J. Wolverton 
(Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 110 L. B., 487). . , , t> • , . i 

Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves was called into service by the President, ancl mem- 
bers thereof have pensionable status within subdivision 1, section 4693, Revised 
Statutes. William G. Triece (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 7 P. D., 85). 

Forty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers was in the service of the l^ederai (govern- 
ment for a period subsequent to July 13, 1863. Samuel M. Gring (Asst. Sec. Bussey, 

62 L. B., 188). „ ^.i.- • „ 

According to the report of the War Department there are no rolls of this organiza- 
tion (Third Quartermaster Volunteers) on file, and the forces were held by that depart- 
ment to have been not a part of the Volunteer Army because never mustered into 
the United States service. A member of said organization is, theretore, not pension- 
able under the third paragraph of section 4693, Revised Statutes, or under the act of 
June 27, 1890. Widow of J. C. Rambo (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 111 L. B., 68). 

(Note.— In this decision the holding appears to be upon the technical ground that 
soldier was never mustered into the federal service, but the facts set out in the 
opinion, show that claimant should have been rejected on the ground that said organ- 
ization was an irregular one, was never a part of the Federal Army, and that the issue 
as to whether or not said military organization was a part of the Federal Army can not 
be proved by ex parte evidence unsupported by a record of some kind.) 

[Subdivisions 1 and 3, section 4693, Revised Statutes.) 

The existence of a state military organization and the fact that said organizalion 
was in the federal service can not be proved by ex parte affidavits unsupported by a 
record of any kind. Louisa S. Norris (5 P. D.. 42, overruled); Alvin West (Asst. 
Sec Reynolds, 7 P. D., 74); widow of John Riling (ibid., 122 L. B. 184). 

Captain Dickey's company of Alabama Volunteer Scouts and Guides was an irreg- 
ular organization, which was hired for a certain length of time by General 1 homaa 
at an agreed price per diem. They were never a part of the federal Army and the 
act of March 3, 1869, provided for their pay, did not confer a pensionable status upon 
members of that organization. Marion Berry (Asst. Sec. Reynolds 113 L. B., 3^59), 
James West (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 126 L. B., 214); M. R. Latham (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 

"ca^ptfin S^iriugfield's company Independent Scouts and Guides was never in the 
federal ser\ace and have no pensionable status, \\idow of H. B. Spnngheld (Asst 
See. Reynolds, 115 L. B.. 457). 



10 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITAKY ORGANIZATIONS. 

Members of Company F, Third Kansas Volunteer Militia, whether called into service 
by Gen. S. R. Curtis or by the governor of Kansas, have no pensionable status under 
either subdivision 1 or class 1 of subdivision 3, section 4693, Revised Statutes. John 
Godfrey (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 7 P. D., 461). 

Halls Gap Battalion, Kentucky State Troops, was never in the federal service and 
members thereof have no pensionable status. William Walls (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 
118 L. B., 65) and John W. Short (Ibid., 128 L. B., 247). 

Members of the South Cumberland Battalion, Kentucky State Guards, have no 
pensionable status under subdivision 1 or 3 of section 4693, Revised Statutes. Alvin 
West (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 131 L. B., 234). 

Company F, Twenty-third Kansas Militia, was never in the federal service and 
members thereof have no title. Charles Morasch (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 121 L. B., 51). 

Company B, Nineteenth Kansas Militia, was never in the federal service and 
members thereof have no pensionable status. James Richardson (Asst. Sec. Rey- 
nolds, 121 L. B., 159). 

Company F, Second Kansas Militia, was never in the federal service and members 
thereof have no pensionable status. Dennis Moriarity (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 131 
L. B., 112). 

Fifth Kansas State Militia was never in the federal service and members thereof 
have no pensionable status. Almira Boyer (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 120 L. B., 310). 

Sandv Valley Battalion, Kentucky Cavalry Guards, was never in the federal serv- 
ice and members thereof have no pensionable status. James O'Brien (Asst. Sec. 
Reynolds, 118 L. B., 65) and John W. Short (Ibid., 128 L. B., 247). 

Company E, Mercer County, Kentucky, Infantry, was never in the federal service, 
and members thereof have no pensionable status. J. C. Donovan (Asst. Sec. Rey- 
nolds, 131 L. B., 234). 

Seventeenth Regiment Green River Battalion, Kentucky State Guards, was never 
in the federal service, and members thereof have no pensionable status. Joseph P. 
Mills (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 120 L. B., 217). 

Green River Battalion, Kentucky Troops, was never in the federal service, and 
members thereof have no pensionable status. Marcus Taylor (Asst. Sec. Bussev, 51 
L. B., 177). 

The act of April 12, 1871, denies a pensionable status to members of Company A, 
Kansas City Station Guards, Missouri Militia. Thomas Smith (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 
132 L. B., 371). 

Neither the One hundred and sixty-seventh West Virginia Militia nor Captain 
Damron's West Virginia Scouts were ever in the federal service, and members thereof 
have no pensionable status. Jesse Jarrel (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 111 L. B., 365). 

[Subdivision 3, section 4693, Revised Statutes.) 

Widows and minors' claim (state militia volunteers) are under the time limitation 
in the third subdivision of section 4693, Revised Statutes. Minors of Pharaoh B. 
Long (Asst. Sec. Bussey, 4 P. D., 22). 

Claims of state militiamen must be prosecuted to succe.ssful issue prior to July 4, 
1874. A. T. Sell (Asst. Sec. Hawkins, 1 P. D., 102). .Maria (\ Worthington (Asst. 
Sec. Bussey, 5 P. D., 203). 

Members and widows of members of the state militia are not entitled to pension 
unless such member was wounded in battle. This case is governed by section 9 of 
the act of Julv 4, 1864. and the act of March 25, 1862, has no application. Martha A. 
Foster (Sec. Cox, 6 L. B. P., 519). 

Some efforts have been made to collect data regarding the state mili- 
tiamen of the border States, and the States in which hostilities actu- 
ally occurred, that were in service during the war, particularly those 
that rendered service in connection with United States troops and 
under the command of United States officers; this refers to those 
militiamen called out, not by the President of the United States, but 
by the governors of the various States for emergency state service. 
The records of the War Department are comnlete as to the militiamen 
called into the military service of the United States by the President, 
but the records on file in that department as to the strictly state 
troops so called are only fragmentary and incomplete. Letters of 
inquiry have been addressed to the adjutant-generals of Arkansas, 
Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsyl- 



FP]DERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 11 

vania, Tennessee, and West Virginia for all inl'orniation ufrorded by 
the records of their several offices relative to the various classes of 
militia and home guards that were in service in those States during 
the war, their total number, the designations of the organizations 
cornposing them, the numbei- or ap))roximate number in each organi- 
zation, the laws, orders, and i-egulations under which they were nuscd, 
the period of service, and what service, if any, was rendered by them, 
or any of them, under command of officers of the United States or in 
connection with United States troops. The replies to these in(|uiries 
leave much to be desired and serve to show that the state records 
were imperfectly kept or have not been collated or systematized. An 
examination has also been made of the published re])orts of the 
adjutant-generals of those States. 

The adjutant-general of Missouri was not included in this in(iuiry, 
inasmuch as all available information, regardin<^ all classes of Mis- 
souri troops was furnished by General Ainsworth in Senate Document 
No. 412, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. 

ARKANSAS. 

Hon. Jeff Davis, governor of Arkansas, replying to the letter 
addressed to the adjutant-general of that State, states that there are 
no records of the Arkansas Militia that were in service during the war. 
The report of the adjutant-general of Arkansas for the ])erio(l of tlie 
war of the rebellion and to 1866, prepared by A. W. Bishop, adjutant- 
general, was published and printed in 1867, at the Government Print- 
ing Office in this city, under authority of the Senate. The following 
"Historical memoranda" regarding the Arkansas militia is taken 
therefrom : 

Prior to the organization of this militia the Union citizens of various parts of the 
State had acted together for their mutual defense. In the autumn of 186.S, in accord- 
ance with orders from Major-General Schofield, then commanding the department of the 
Missouri, several companies of Union men were organized in northwestern Arkansas, 
the General Government issuing arms and ammunition and when on active duty fur- 
nishing them with subsistence. These companies were commanded as follows: In 
Washington County by Captains Bracken Lewis and Mackey; Benton County, Captain 
Mizer; Carroll County, Captains Gaddy and Walker, and in Madison County, by Capt. 
John W. Bivens. There was also a very efficient company organized in West Fork 
Township, Washington County, whose population was preeminently loyal, and where, 
perhaps, to a greater extent than in any other single locality in northwestern Arkansas, 
outside of a military post, rebellion was made odious and bushwhackers received severe 
and sudden punishment. 

Captain Bivens's company was in active service more than a year, participating 
frequently in raids upon the enemy and in skirmishes without number. 

Captains Lewis and Mackey's companies took part in the defense of Fayetteville 
on the 3d of November, 1864, and all of these organizations rendered valuable aid to 
the Government, for which they have received no compensation. 

In the spring of 1864, while the frontier division of the Seventh Army Corps were in 
the field cooperating with General Steele, it became necessary for the defense of 
Fort Smith and the Union men living in the vicinity, to organize there also a local 
militia. Four companies were thus formed to do duty in the surrounding country, 
commanded, respectively, by Captains Turner, Smith, Gibbons, and Thomas, the 
battalion by Maj. Charles C. Reid. Companies were also organized at Ozark and 
other points on the Arkansas River. *At that time guerillas were unusually trouble- 
some in this portion of the State, and in warfare with them, which was actively waged 
by this militia, Captains Turner, Gibbons, and Thomas and many of their men were 
killed. These companies likewise have never received pay for their services. At 
the same time the citizens of Fort Smith were partially organized and drilled, and 

Erecautions were taken against an attack upon the town, which was somewhat appre- 
ended when the news reached it of the failure of the Red River expedition, and 
General Thayer, with the frontier division, was stubbornly falling back with General 
Steele to Little Rock. 



12 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

No information as to the strength of these companies is furnished, 
nor any information as to the service rendered by them more than 
is stated in the foregoing. In the Forty-seventh Congress, first 
session, a bill (S. 520) for the relief of Gaddy's company, of Arkansas 
Home Guards, one of the companies mentioned in the report of the 
adjutant-general of Arkansas, was made the subject of an adverse 
report (No. 337) from the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. 
That report, which contains the facts regarding these organizations 
and t he purposes for which they were raised is as follows: 

The bill proposes to pay the officers and men of said company the pay and allowances 
of volunteers in the United States service during the period of their service. Your 
committee referred the bill to the Secretary of War for information and report, no 
evidence having been presented to your committee, and received through the Secre- 
tary the following: 

War Department, 
Adjutant-General's Office, 

Washington, February IS, 1882. 

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a letter of Hon. F. M. Cockrell, United 
States Senator, of the 24th ultimo, inclosing bill (S. 520, 47th Cong., 1st sess.) for the 
relief of Capt. George E. Gaddy's company of Arkansas Home Guards, and requesting 
to be fully advised as to the organization of said company, the number of men therein, 
under whom and by who.'^e orders organized, where it served, and as to the action had 
by the War Department touching its service, pay, etc., and to report that— 

Captain Gaddy's was one of the companies of home guards called into local service 
for the protection of the homes of loyal citizens of Arkansas by General Orders No. 
129, dated November 4, 1863, headquarters Department of the Missouri (copy hereto 
appended), and under the provisions of said order the company was to be armed and 
subsisted by the United States only ivhen in active service under the orders of the district 
commander; but was not to be entitled to any pay from the United States or to any supplies 
except subsistence and ammunition, and was not to be mustered into service of the 
United States. 

A roll purporting to be a muster-roll of this company, covering a period from Feb- 
ruary 28, 1864, to August 31, 1864, is on file in this office, and gives the strength of 
thecompany as 3 commissioned officers and 60 e'nlisted men; but said roll cannot be 
accepted as furni.shing any authentic information relative to the organization or serv- 
ice of said company in the absence of a muster-in or muster-out roll. 

Under the provisions of General Orders, No. 129, before referred to, the companies 
were not to be called into service as volunteers, but simply as militia for local service 
as home guards, in the protection of their homes. 

By letter from headquarters District Southw^est Missouri, dated August 1, 1864 
(copy appended), a proposition was made to Captain Gadley (Gaddy) to have his com- 
pany mustered into the service of the United States for twelve months, which would 
entitle it to the pay and allowances of other United States troops; and September 8, 
1864, Special Orders, No. 242 (copy appended), from same headquarters ordered Captain 
Gaddy to proceed with his command to Springfield, Mo., for the purpose of con- 
ferring with the commanding officer of the district in relation to being mustered into 
the United States service. There is no official record that Captain Gaddy's company 
was mustered into the United States service or that it performed any service under 
the orders referred to. 

Owing to the circumstances under which it was called into service, no action has 
been taken by the War Department in relation to ser\-ice, pay, &c., of this company. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

R. C. Drum. Adjutant-General. 
To the honorable the Secretary of War. 



[General Orders, No. 129.) 

Headquarters Department op the Missouri, 

St. Louis, Mo., November 4, 186S. 
District commanders in the State of Arkansas are authorized to organize the loyal 
men of that State into companies and regiments of home guards, and to appoint the 
officers to command them. 

The officers must be men of undoubted loyalty, efficiency, and integrity. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 13 

The troops so ornfanized will be supplied with such captured iind second-class arms 
as are not requn-ed for issue to other troops. 

When in active service under tiie orders of the district comnuindcr fhev will be 
subsisted from the commissary department like other troops. 

They will not be entitled to pay nor any supplies, except subsistence and ammuni- 
tion from the United States. 

These troops will be sworn into the service of the United States to serve as "home 
guard>i'' dmwv^ the war, unless sooner discharged, and will be subject to military 
laws and orders, but will only be required to serve for the protection of tlieir hom^ 
and their immediate vicinity. 

These organizations will take the name of the county in which they are formed 

The names of th(^ officers and the number of men in eacli organization will be for- 
warded to department headcpiarters. 

By command of jMajor-General Schofield. 

O. D. Greene, 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 



Headquarters District Southwest Missouri, 

Springfield, Mo., August 1, 1864. 
Captain: The War Department has authorized the raising of some twelve months' 
regiments in this State. Troops that muster into these regiments will recei\e $100 
bounty and the pay and allowances of other United States troops. Colonel Bovde 
is superintending the recruiting of one regiment in this section of the State, and'his 
brother, Rufus Boyde, will hand you this letter. Your company can muster in as at 
present organized, or elect new officers, as it may deem best. It is clearly for the 
interest of your officers and men to muster into the United States service. If you 
conclude to muster in, you can come up here and be mustered, or the mustering officer 
in a few days can come to you and muster you where you are. Lay the whole matter 
before the men, and inform Mr. Boyde before he returns what action your company 
will take. Send, also, any information you may have of importance. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

John B. Sanborn, 
^ . _, Brigadier-General, Commanding. 

Captain Gaddy, 

Commanding Arkansas Militia, Easbys Ferry, Mo. 



[Special Orders, No. 242.) 

Headquarters District Southwest Missouri, 

Springfield, Mo., September 8, 1S64. 

[Extract.) 
******* 
II. Capt. George Gaddy, commanding company of Arkansas Militia, now stationed 
at Easbys Ferry, is hereby ordered to proceed with his command to Springfield, Mo., 
for the purpose of conferring with the commanding officer of the district in relation to 
being mustered into the United States service. 
Three days' rations will be brought. 

******* 
By order of Brigadier-General Sanborn. 

Wm. T. Kittridce, 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 

It will be seen that by the very order calling for their organization "They will not be 
entitled to. pay nor any supplies except subsistence and ammunition from the United 
States." They were only required "to serve for the protection of their homes and their 
immediate vicinity." 

Your committee therefore report the bill back to the Senate, with the recommenda- 
tion that it be indefinitely postponed and the claim therein made be not allowed, and 
this report be adopted. 

In the Forty-eighth Congress, second session, House resolution 159, 
for the reUef of certain officers and enlisted men in the State of 
Arkansas who served in the war of the rebellion, was adversely 



14 FEDERAL. AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

reported from the House Cqmniittee on Military Affairs, the report 
being as follows: 

That the companies of Capts. A. H. Alfrey, E. H. Bertram, John Miser, I. W. Bevans, 
and George E. Gaddy were raised under General Orders 129, issued by Major-General 
Schofield, commanding Department of Missouri, and dated 4th November, 1863, in 
which general orders it is stated that they are organized as home guards, and when on 
active duty will be supplied with subsistence from the Commissary Department as 
other troops, but that they will not be entitled to pay nor any supplies, except sub- 
sistence and ammunition, from the United States. 

On the 14th February, 1865, General Reynolds, commanding at Fort Smith, Ark., 
by general order authorized Capt. G. E. Miller and others to raise companies to be 
composed of men whose occupation is that of farming, and not soldiering; that they are 
for local defense, and' will receive no pay or subsistence from the Government; and on 
the 27th May, 1865, he issued another order stopping any further recruiting, and 
directing all arms to be returned, &c. 

A bill was introduced in the Forty-seventh Congress for the relief of Captain Gaddy 
and his company, which was reported adversely by the Senate Committee on Military 
Affairs, by S. Report No. 337, filed with the papers in this claim. 

Your committee do not controvert the fact that these companies were organized and 
probably rendered efficient service in protecting themselves and their immediate 
homes from depredations by lawless bands, but it was expressly stipulated in General 
Schofield's order authorizing the formation of these companies that they were to 
receive no pay from the United States for such service, and the same conditions were 
afterwards announced in the order of General Reynolds authorizing some of them, that 
no pay or subsistence would be allowed them. 

They were never recognized as soldiers, their muster rolls were never returned to 
the War Department, and your committee can not now, at this late date, recommend 
that they l)e recognized and paid as regular soldiers. They therefon* rei)ort said 
joint re.solution back, and recommend that it do not pass. 

The companies authorized by General Reynolds Febmary 14, 1865, 
asstated in the foregoing report, were commonly known as "colonies," 
and were simply organized among Union people to prevent destitu- 
tion among themselves and also to protect themselves while in the 
pursuit of their usual avocations. Regarding them the published 
report of the adjutant-general of Arkansas shows the following: 

After the unsuccessful attack upon Fayetteville, and the retreat of the rebel army 
south of the Arkansas River, in November, 1864, large numbers of the Union people, 
who had during the fall campaign fled to Fayetteville for protection were left entirely 
destitute of the means of subsistence. In addition to this, the order for the abandon- 
ment of western Arkansas was issued in the December following, and caused, until 
its revocation, the stopping of southbound trains and the further importation of provi- 
sions by citizens. To prevent utter destitution and wretchedness, the danger of which 
was imminent, several armed colonies were organized by Col. M. LaRue Harrison, 
then commanding the post of Fayetteville, and shortly afterwards a general system, 
similar in character, was inaugurated by the governor of the State, \vith the approval 
of the commander of the department of the Arkansas. The object of these companies 
is elsewhere more specifically set forth, and occasion mil only be taken here to allude 
briefly to results. In northwestern Arkansas, where Colonel Harrison supervised 
their organization, colonies were established at various places in Washington, Madison, 
and Benton counties, and preparations were made by him to organize similar ones in 
the counties of Carroll, Marion, Newton, and Searcy, when the close of the war ren- 
dered their establishment unnecessary. 

The Union Valley Post Colony — a type of them all — located near Rhea's mill in 
Washington County, elected J. R. Rutherford, an old citizen of the county, as their 
captain, built a strong earthwork stockade and redoubt, erected temporary build- 
ings for their families, and went to work earnestly to cultivate the soil. Religious 
services were observed; a Sabbath and a day school were established, and a black- 
smith and wagon shop, and various other appurtenances of a peaceful community 
soon sprung up. 

As indicative also of the same spirit and necessity in another portion of the State, 
the following report is presented: 

White Oak Colony, Ark., May 20, 1S65. 

Sir: I beg leave to submit to you the following report of the White Oak Colony. 
On the 25th of April, 1865, by special order No. 105, I was assigned to take charge of 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 15 

this colony. I enteicd upon my duties the same date, and brought down 16 govern- 
ment teams freighted with families and organized the eolony on what is known as 
tlie "Fish farm," 5 miles below Pine Bluff, on the bank of the Arkansas River. Since 
llien, and up to the present date, I have the honor to report the jjresent strength of 
the eolony 96 men, home-guard militia (under the command of ('apt. James Ken- 
nedy), -li) women, and (12 children. 1 have a day school in operation, willi 50 scholars, 
under a male teacher. I have drawn 48 unserviceable government horses for the use 
of the colony. Notwithstanding thelatenessof the season when I organized the colony, 
and laboring under great disadvantages in procuring farming implements, I have 
progressed well with corn crops. At this date I have 250 acres of corn jjlanted, and 
by the lOlh of June we will have between five and six hundred acres planted in com 
and potatoes. The gardens are also late, but looking well. This colony is cotnposed 
of loyal, peaceable citizens, and the home guard do their duty as soldiers on guard 
and picket. This colony is a success, with no expense to llie (Jovernment except 
rations. 

Very respectfully, youi' obedient servant. 

\ViLi-i.\.\i Laiumek, Jr., 
Captain Compmnj A. Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry. 
Brig. Gen. Powell Clayton. 

Commander United States forces. Pine Blnff, Ark. 

The Arkansas Militia, oi- hoine guards, were organized for strictly 
local service and defense in the protection of their homes. Ihey 
were never paid by the United States and are not recognized as hav- 
ing any pensionable* status. 

Arkansas had also one regiment, the Fourth Arkansas Mounted 
Infantry, which performed active service for several months, but 
which was never accepted into the military service of the United 
States. Ihis regiment was enlisted in 1863 and 1864 under authority 
given by Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele, then commanding United States 
forces in Arkansas. Ihe enlistments of its members were for the 
period of one year, and they actually served from six to eight months, 
taking part in several engagements with the enemy. Ihe War De- 
partment, however, refused to confirm the authority for the enlist- 
m.ent of this regiment for one year, and on June 2, 1864, it was ordered 
disbanded: But the service of the regiment had been actually per- 
formed in the field and in the immediate presence of the enemy. 
Ihe claim of the officers and men of this regiment for pay for their 
service was twice recognized by Congress. An act was approved 
March 18, 1873, providing that the Secretary of War' shoukl cause 
their claims to be investigated and paid and a second act was approved 
February 27, 1899, directing the Secretary of Y'i^ar to further investi- 
gate said claims and cause them to be paid, final action having failed 
under the first act of March 18, 1873. Payment of these claims was 
made under an appropriation included in the sundry civil bill ap- 
proved March 3, 1901. 

In the Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, a bill (11. K. 14789) 
to give the ofticers and men of the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry 
the benefits of the pension laws passed the House of Representatives, 
the report from- the House Committee on Invalid Peijsions, which 
gives the facts regarding the organization, service, and disbandment 
of this regiment, being as follows: 

As appears from the record of the War Department, the Fourth Arkansas Mounted 
Infantry was duly and lawfully recruited in 1863, under the orders of Major-General 
Steele, for the term of one year or during the war. After being recruited the men 
drew clothing, arms, ammunition, and equipments and rations, but furnished their 
own horses. 

The regiment was officered and under the orders of the commander of the United 
States forces operating at the time in Arkansas. While thus serving, the regiment, or 



16 FEDEEAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

part thereof, was engaged in six battles and skirmishes, several of them were killed, 
others wounded, and still others captured; one of the captured was hung by the 
enemy and others threatened with hanging, but were saved by counter thi'eats of 
retaliation, and exchanged. Five members of the regiment died of disease. 

After serving faithfully for more than half of the period for which enlisted the regi- 
ment was disbanded without any formal muster or discharge, and without ever being 
paid, because the War Department determined that no more regiments should be 
mustered for the term of one year. The order of disbandment is as follows; 

Headquarters Department of Arkansas, etc., 

Little Rock, Ark., June 2, 1864. 
******* 

2. The authority heretofore granted for the enlistment for one year of a regiment 
of Arkansas troops, to be designated the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry, not hav- 
ing been confirmed by the War Department, the organization is hereby disbanded. 

All quartermasters' property and ordnance stores in the possession of the battalion 
will be turned over to the proper staff officers at Duvalls Bluff. 

******* 

By order of Maj. Gen. F. Steele: 

Benj. B. Foster, 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 

After the disbandment of the regiment nearly all of its members suitable for military 
service joined other regiments, but many were too old or feeble for further ser\dce or 
unwilling to reenlist, and about 75 survive to be benefited by this bill. 

The act of the War Department disbanding this regiment was certainly a harsh 
exercise of authority, as the officer who raised the regiment was expressly authorized 
by the general commanding in Arkansas to recruit the regiment "for the term of one 
year, or during the war, if not sooner discharged," as will be seen by the following 
order: 

Headquarters Army of Arkansas, 

Little Rock, October 23, 1863. 

l{!lisha Baxter, of Batesville, Independence County, State of Arkansas, is hereby 
authorized to raise a regiment of infantry to be mustered into the United States serv- 
ice for the l(;rm of one year, or during the war, if not sooner discharged. 

The headquarters for the recruiting will be at Batesville, Independence County, 
and all persons recruiting for said regiment will be governed by the regulations for 
the recruiting service and orders from War Department, Department of Missouri, 
and these headquailers. 

Mr. Baxter will report to these headquarters for such instructions as he may require. 

By order of Maj. Gen. F. Steele: 

A. H. Ryan, Capt. & A. D. C. 

The records of the War Department show that there was no valid reason why the 
men of this regiment were not only mustered, paid, and discharged, if their services 
were no longer desired; and such seems to have been the opinion of former Congresses, 
as this regiment has been twice recognized by acts of Congress for its relief. The first 
act, approved March 18, 1873, providing that the Secretary of War should cause to be 
investigated the claims of the officers and men and cause them to be paid; and the 
second act, approved February 27, 1899, directed the Secretary of War to further 
investigate said claims, and cause them to be paid. 

Under this latter act the Secretary of War directed Thomas F. Barr, Assistant Judge- 
Advocate-General, to proceed to Arkansas and investigate said claims, and as a result 
of his investigation and report the officers and men of said regiment have all been paid. 

Colonel Barr, the officer detailed by the War Department as above stated, makes 
the following references to this regiment in his report: 

"The men composing the five companies recruited came fromwithin a radius of 30 
miles around Batesville. They were loyal to the cause of the Union and were mainly 
refugees from their homes, who had been hiding in the mountains, swamps, and 
caves to escape conscription and dangers which encompassed them. The fact that 
they rendered faithful and efficient service is fully attested. The knowledge they 
possessed of every road and bypath in the surrounding country led largely to their 
employment as scouts and guides." 

And, after commending the patriotism, services, and honorable character of the 
men of this regiment, he concludes his report to the Secretary of War in these words: 

"Existing law, providing as it does only for their payment for the determined 
periods of their service, fails to provide an adequate measure of justice. The organi- 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITAKY ORGANIZATIONS. 17 

zation should, in my judfiment, bo fully recognized as having formed an integral part 
of the volunteer army, and a certificate of honorable dincharge issued in tlie name of 
each soldier who did faithful service up to the date of disbandment, thus giving them 
a pensionable status." 

Your committee heartily concur in this opinion of the Assistant Judge-Adovcatc;- 
General and see no valid reason why the members of this regiment should not have 
every right to a pension that due muster and an honorable discharge give all other 
claimants, and therefore recommend the passage of the bill. 

This bill failed of passaf]jo throuo;!! the Senate, and the officeis and 
men of the Fourth Reo;iment Arkansas Mounted Infantry have no 
pensionable rights under existing laws. 

DELAWARE. 

Delaware, it appears, eidisted in its service no home guards, mili- 
tia, or state military organizations. The adjutant-general of that 
State reports that his office contains no records whatever of any such 
organizations, and that he is informed, upon inquiry among officers of 
Delaware regiments during the war, tliat no home guards, militia, or 
state military organizations existed in Delaware at that time. This 
is also borne out by correspondence early in the war between the gov- 
ernor of that State and the Secretary of War. On April 25, 1861, 
Governor Burton wrote Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretar}^ of War, as 
follows : 

[Rebellion Records, Series III, vol. 1, p. 114.] 

Executive Department, 
Dover, Del., April 25, 1861. 

Sir: I have had the honor to receive your communication of the 15th instant, 
requesting me to cause to be immediately detached from the militia of this State one 
regiment, consisting of 780 men "to serve as infantrymen or riflemen for the period 
of three months unless sooner discharged." 

The laws of this State confer upon the executive no authority whatever enabling 
him to comply with your requisition, there being no organized militia in the State 
nor any law authorizing such organization . 

There are volunteer companies formed and their officers commissioned by the 
executive, and others are being formed, but it is altogether optional with them to 
offer their service to the United States authorities, the executive having no power 
vested in him to order them into its service. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

William Burton, Governor. 
Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Secretary of War. 

Delaware, however, had two volunteer regiments in the military 
service of the United States, the character of whose service for a time 
was akin to that of state militia. The Fifth and Sixth Delaware 
Regiments, the former numbering 912 officers and men and the 
latter 887, were organized and mustered into the United States 
service in October or November, 1862, for special duty in the State 
of Delaware, with the condition that the members thereof were to 
receive pay and recognition only for the time they were actually on duty. 
They were raised under the call of the President of July 2, 1862, and 
after their muster into service the officers and men returned to their 
homes and avocations to await a call for active service. This call 
was made during the emergency of 1863 by General Schenck, com- 
niianding the Eighth Army Corps. The active service of these regi- 
ments commenced during the latter part of June, 1863, and continued 
until their muster out in the latter part of August and first part of 

S. Doc. 378, 61-2—2 



18 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

September following, the average length of service of their members 
being between fifty and sixty days, for which period they received 
pay from the General Government. The service performed by these 
regiments in the summer of 1863 was that of guarding prisoners at 
Fort Delaware, Del., and guarding the railroad and canal north from 
Baltimore. This was the purpose for which they were called into 
active service. 

The earliest mention of either of these regiments in the Oihcial 
Records of the Union and Confederate Armies occurs June 19, 1863, 
when General Schenck telegraphed as follows: 

[Rebellion Records, Series I, vol. 27, part 3, p. 221.] 

Baltimoee, June 19, 1S63. 
Is the Fifth Delaware Infantry now in your State, and can I call out four or five 
companies of the regiment for duty at Fort Delaware? We must have more guards for 
the large number of prisoners there. Please answer immediately. 

Robert C. Schenck, Major-General. 
Governor Cannon, 

Dover, Del. 

Later on the same day he telegraphed as follows: 

[Ibid.] 

Baltimore, June 19, 1863 — 8 p. m. 
Governor Cannon informs me that the Fifth Regiment Delaware Infantry is subject 
to my order for the General Government. You will without delay call out, and send 
duly equipped for service, five companies of that regiment to Fort Delaware, to report 
for duty to Brigadier-General Schoepf, United States Volunteers, commanding that 
post. Report to me your compliance with this order. 

RoBT. C. Schenck, 
Major-General, Commanding Middle Department. 
Col. H. S. McCoMB, 

Wilmington, Del. 

As regards the other five companies of the Fifth Delaware Infantry, 
the following appears: 

[Ibid., p. 252.] 

Baltimore, Md., June 21, 1863 — 1.30 p. m. 
You will have the other five companies of the Fifth Delaware sent as soon as possible 
to relieve two companies of the Fifth New York Artillery, guarding the railroad from 
Perryville to Baltimore. The train that brings on the P'ifth Delaware can bring the 
Fifth New York here. 
By order of Major-General Schenck: 

DoNN Piatt, 
Lieutenant- Colonel, and Chief of Staff. 
Maj. Henry B. Judd, U. S. Army, 

Wilmington, Del. 

Further information regarding the service of the Fifth Delaware 
Infantry, and also of the Sixth Delaware Infantry, is found in a letter 
addressed by Brig. Gen. Dan. Tyler to the chief of staff at department 
headquarters, of which the following is a copy : 

[Ibid.,pp. 654, 655.] 

Headquarters Delaware Department, 

Wilmington, Del., July 11, 1863. 
Colonel: During the week 1 have inspected the troops at Fort Delaware, and those 
along the line of the Philadelphia and Wilmington Railroad to Bush River, and, to 
meet the necessity of the case, have ordered all the Fifth Delaware to Fort Delaware, 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 19 

where they are most wanted for guard and other duly, and have distributed the Sixth 
Delaware along the line of railroad, leaving four companies at Havre de Grace, and the 
balance at Bush River, Gunpowder, Black River, and Perrymansville, giving ample 
protection to the railroad, and distributed the men in such a way as will give them 
convenient quarters without any additional expense. 

******* 
With great respect, your obedient servant, 

Dan. Tyleii, Brigadier-General. 
Col. DoNN Piatt, Chief of Staff. 

Prior to June, 1863, the service of the Filth and Sixth Delaware 
Regiments was akin to the service of state miUtia, although it is to be 
remembered that they had been musteretl into the service of the 
Federal Government and formed a part of its Volunteer Army. In 
respect of the service during the period from the fall of 1862 to June, 
1863, of the Fifth Delaware Inlantry, the following is taken from 
Senate Document 163, Fifty-eighth Congress, third session, and the 
same may be said to be applicable to the service during the same 
period of the Sixth Delaware Infantry : 

That the officers and men of this regiment were put ui)on military footing and duty, 
and served faithfully as soldiers unremittingly from the date of their muster into the 
United States service, is shown by numerous affidavits on file, and by the petition 
presented and filed herewith, signed by 180 officers and men of the Fifth Delaware 
Volunteers. 

They were the best and most loyal citizens of the State, and the fact that they were 
United States soldiers, uniformed and organized, drilling and performing duty as 
such in the city of Wilmington and in Newcastle County, ready for any emergency, 
deterred the large number of outspoken secessionists and southern sympathizers from 
open revolt and an effort to join Delaware to the Confederacy. The facts that the 
State was the highway over which all United States troops from the Northern and 
Eastern States must reach the seat of war and the defenses of Washington, and that the 
chief source of supply for powder was the Dupont Powder Works in that State, demon- 
strate that there was a cogent necessity for the presence of these loyal men — citizens of 
the State, but soldiers of the Union, able to suppress, by arm if need be, any demon- 
strations of hostility to the Union. And to that essential end they were ex necessi- 
tate rei more efficient than outside troops of the Union Army could have been . It also 
appears that the duties performed all the time while in the State were such military 
duties as, had this regiment been sent elsewhere, active regular troops would have been 
required to discharge them, thus weakening the Union lines at other points. 

But the War Department seems to have regarded only their services without the 
State as "active service," so far as can be ascertained from the department's letter 
of March 22, 1904. From the date of muster in, in October and November, 1862, 
until June 19 and 21, 1863, although at Wilmington and in Newcastle County, they 
were drilling, standing guard, caring for government property, protecting the railroad 
and ferry between Havre de Grace and Perryville, guarding and protecting the powder 
works, and other duties of a strictly military nature, such as would necessarily require 
United States soldiers, thus releasing for the front other troops; the Government in 
this way secured the military services of the Fifth Delaware Volunteers without 
being compelled to feed them, and it seems, for lack of technical formalities, have 
thus far escaped payment for those home services, and, judging from the War Depart- 
ment's letter before you, will continue to ignore these services. 

It does seem that the least Congress can do to right this wrong is to pass Senator 
Ball's bill, Senate No. 5100, now before this committee, and treat these border-state 
defenders of the Union as well as Congress has treated the same class of state militia 
or home guards in Missouri. 

An extract from the petition signed by 180 survivors of the Fifth Delaware Vol- 
unteers is referred to as showing the character of service performed: 

"That in October, A. D. 1862, the Fifth Regiment Delaware Volunteer Infantry 
were duly mustered into the Armv of the United States by Maj. Henry B. Judd, of 
the United States Regular Army, 'to serve therein as United States soldiers for nine 
months, or during the war; and without any delay thereafter were duly clothed, 
armed, and equipped for immediate service in the United States Army as soldiers 
of the United States. 



20 FEDEEAL AND STATE MILITAKY ORGANIZATIONS. 

"At this time, in 1862, it was absolutely necessary for the United States Government 
to keep quite a large number of soldiers at Wilmington, Del., and in other parts of 
said State, and in the adjoining counties of the State of Maryland, for the reason that 
at that time there were a great many outspoken rebel sympathizers in said two States, 
through which the United States soldiers going south from the northern and eastern 
States to the national capital at Washington, D. C, had to pass to reach Washington, 
D. C, and a strong guard of the United States soldiers had to be kept under arms in 
Delaware and Maryland along the line of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, at 
Delaware City and St. Georges, in Delaware, and Chesapeake City, in Maryland, to 
prevent the rebel sympathizers in said sections from blowing up and destroying the 
locks of said canal at the places above mentioned, as said canal connected the waters 
of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, a short route by water from the North to Balti- 
more and Washington. 

"A strong detachment of United States soldiers was also required to be stationed 
on both sides of the Susquehanna River at Perryville and Havre de Grace, in Mary- 
land, over which all troops going south to Baltimore and Washington by way of the 
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad had to be ferried across the Sus- 
quehanna River between PerryAdlle and Havre de Grace on the large steamer Mary- 
land; and the Fifth Delaware Regiment, in detachments, were required to guard the 
locks on the different parts of said canal, and to keep the rebels and rebel sympa- 
thizers (who were numerous in those localities) from blowing up the canal locks and 
to prevent vessels laden with troops and army supplies from reaching Washington 
by water; and also for troops to be stationed at Perryville and Havre de Grace, on 
both sides of the Susquehanna River, on the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and 
Baltimore Railroad, to prevent the rebels and their sympathizers from destroying the 
transport steamer Maryland, which then conveyed all railroad cars, containing troops, 
munitions of war, and passengers on its decks from Perryville to Havre de Grace, 
en route for Baltimore and ^^'ashington and points farther south. 

"A portion of the Fifth Delaware Regiment was stationed at the points above men- 
tioned to keep the steamer Maryland from being destroyed and to prevent armed 
rebels from crossing into Delaware as raiders. A strong guard of soldiers had to be 
kept on duty night and day at the large and very extensive powder works of E. I. 
Dupont & Co., on the Brandywine River, at or near the city of Wilmington, Del., 
to prevent the rebels from blowing up or otherwise destroying those large powder 
works, which were running everj^ day and night to their utmost capacity to supply 
the United States Army with powder. 

" Two of the companies of the Fifth Regiment were enlisted in the immediate vicin- 
ity of the powder works— Company B, commanded by Capt. Lamotte Dupont, and 
Company D, commanded by Capt. Hugh Stirling (one of the managers of the building 
department of the said E. I. Dupont <fe Co.). Said two companies, together with the 
other companies of the Fifth Regiment, were for some time stationed at Fort Dela- 
ware, in the Delaware Bay, guai'ding several thousand of captured rebel officers and 
privates who were then held as prisoners of war. A detachment of Company D of 
the Fifth Regiment, while stationed at Fort Delaware, was, by order of General 
Schenck, then commanding at said fort, under Lieut. James M. Peoples and First 
Sergt. Robert C. Fraim as officers, detailed to duty on board the U. S. S. Daniel Webster 
in charge of prisoner exchange from Fort Delaware to City Point on the James River. 

"And they also, on board the said steamer, performed military duty on said steamer 
at Fortress Monroe and Norfolk, Va., and on the Atlantic Ocean. A detachment of 
Company B was also, by order of General Schenck, ])la(ed on the U. S. S. Eagle on 
prisoners exchange, and performed military duty thereon on the Atlantic Ocean and 
at City Point on the James River, in Virginia. For some cause unknown to your 
petitioners said regiment, after ha^dng served over nine months as United States 
soldiers in the States of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and on the Atlantic Ocean, 
only received about seven weeks' pay for their nine months and a half ser\'ice in 
the United States Army, and have never since their discharge at the expiration of 
their term of service, over nine months under arms, have received but seven weeks' 
pay for their ser\dces as United States soldiers in said Fifth Delaware Regiment, and 
up to the present the old and decrepit soldiers of said regiment and the widows of 
deceased soldiers have not been able to get placed upon the pension rolls at Wash- 
ington, which is a great injustice, as the members of said regiment were clothed, 
equipped, and armed as soldiers of the United States, and faithfully performed their 
duties as such soldiers for the full term of their enlistment, from October, 1862, to 
August, 1863, at which time they were honorably discharged from military service 
by Henry B. Judd, then colonel in the United States Regular Army." 

One can not peruse this statement of 180 officers and soldiers of the Fifth Delaware 
Volunteers without forming a judgment in his own mind that these services were 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 21 

"military services" of the most important and valuable rharacter, at a most critical 
time in a border State, when the public sentiment was almost evenly balanced, and 
efforts to take the State out of the Union were liable to take form at any moment. 

One of said survivors of the Fifth E>elaware Volunteers, in an affidavit and letter, 
states the case forcibly, as follows: 

"It was made up of men who had their homes at stake, and no one can tell what 
the regiment saved the Government in protection of the powder works where the 
Government got its supply of powder. Then when Lee was marching toward Get- 
tysburg, the 35,000 or 40,000 rebels in Fort Delaware began to talk aljout rising. We 
were sent there to guard them and the Chesapeake Canal from Delaware City to Bal- 
timore. This canal the Government had to use to take its supplies through to 
Baltimore and Washington. The sympathizers threatened to cut the locks, and the 
Government could not go around outside and in by Norfolk to the Potomac River to 
get to Washington. 

'"Some may make light of the Fifth Delaware Regiment, but they were of more 
benefit than thousands of other soldiers who lay around cities and hotels pretending 
to be recruiting officers or on the sick list. There were thousands of such soldiers, 
and I am sure they are all getting pensions if living. But the Army of the Potomac 
would not have been any good without powder at Harpers Ferry or Antietam or 
Gettysburg. Then there is another thing: We were only paid for what time we were 
away from the State. We had to drill just the same, night or day, just the .same as 
any other soldiers. At mustering out we were told by the paymaster he had only 
our act while out of State or in camp, and our other service would be an after con- 
sideration; that he could not deal with it." . .• ^ 



Under the general pension law the members of the Fifth and Sixth 
Delaware Regiments have pensionable status for any disability 
incurred in line of duty durmg the period of their active service. 
They have no pensionable status under the act of June 27, 1890, as 
they are credited only with the period of their active service, the 
service for which they received pay, which was less than ninety days. 
This period of service, however, is counted in connection with any service 
rendered as officers or enlisted men in the military or naval service 
of the United States in some other organization, and if the total 
service is equal to ninety days they have pensionable status under 
the act of June 27, 1890. 

Fifth and Sixth Delawares. 

The letter from The Military Secretary of date March 22, 1904, 
states that it appears from the official records that there were about 
1,924 officers and men enrolled in these two regiments. He estimates 
that on June 30, 1904, the survivors would not exceed 900 men, and, 
according to the mortuary tables of life insurancB companies, there 
would now be in the neighborhood of 300 to 500 survivors. As prac- 
tically none of these men were injured in the service, it is not probable 
that any general-law claims would arise, and the only pensions would 
be those afiowed under the act of June 27, 1890, or February 6, 1907. 
It will therefore be seen that very few of the members of these regi- 
ments would receive pensions under the provisions of this act. The 
Military Secretary, by letter of ^larch 17, 1906, transmits the official 
correspondence in connection with the raising of these two regiments, 
which summarized is : . 

On October 10, 1862, Maj. H. B. Judd, U. S. Army, was authorized 
by Thomas M. Vincent, assistant adjutant-general, to muster into the 
United States service 16 companies, raised by Col. Henry S. Macomb, 
and to designate them the ''Fifth Delaware Volunteers." The extra 
companies were to be temporarily attached to this regiment. On 



22 FEDEEAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

February 27, 1863, the Adjutant-General was notified by letter from 
Major Judd that this order had been comphed with and that he had 
mustered into the service 10 companies of infantry, to be known as 
the "Fifth Dela wares," and 10 additional companies which were tem- 
porarily attached to this regiment. On June 27, 1863, the governor 
of Delaware issued an order that the 10 additional companies attached 
to this regiment should be knowTi as the ''Sixth Delaware Volunteer 
Infantry." On July 8, 1863, Major Judd requested the Adjutant- 
General to approve the order of Governor Cannon and form these 10 
additional companies into the Sixth Delaware. On July 10, 1863, 
Major Judd was notified by the Adjutant-General that these 10 com- 
panies had been mustered into the service as the Sixth Delaware Vol- 
unteer Infantry. From affidavits of 180 survivors of these two regi- 
ments, filed with your committee in the Fifty-eighth Congress, it 
appears that the officers of these regiments were commissioned the 
same as other officers in the United States Volunteer Army. They 
were issued clothing, arms, and equipments, but no subsistence, and it 
was understood that they were to serve within the boundaries of the 
State of Delaware. Immediately after their muster in they were 
aUow^ed to return to their homes and engage in their usual pursuits of 
life, yet at the same time they were under the control of the United 
States officers. They were drilled daily by their own officers. Some 
companies were kept on duty day and night guarding powder works 
at Wilmington. Others, under direction of their officers, broke up 
meetings of secessionist sympatliizers at various places. 

Some time in June, 1863, both regiments were ordered out for 
service in protecting railroads and ferry near Havre de Grace and 
Perryville, guarding powder works, and guarding prisoners. A de- 
tachment of the Fifth Delaware was required to guard the locks in 
the various parts of the canal to prevent their being blown up. A 
portion of the regiment was required to protect the steamer Maryland 
from being destroyed and to prevent armed rebels from crossing 
the Delaw^are as raiders. Two companies were kept stationed day 
and night at the Dupont Powder Works. A detachment of Company 
D, Fifth Regiment, was detailed for duty on board the steamer 
Daniel Wehster in charge of prisoner exchange. Fort Delaware. 
A detachment of Company B was also on duty on the steamer Eagle. 

Affidavits of individual members are to the effect that at various 
times they were called out by their officers, not for any particular 
service, but to subdue demonstrations made by southern sympa- 
thizers, and the fact that these two regiments of armed and uni- 
formed soldiers w^ere always on hand to subdue any demonstration 
from the southern sympathizers in Delaware allowetl the removal of 
other troops to the field of action. 

On August 7, 1863, Major Judd telegraphed the Adjutant-General 
as follows: 

Shall Fifth and Sixth Delaware be allowed pay for nine months or time actually 
served? 

In reply he was advised by the Adjutant-General as follows: 
Fifth and Sixth Regiments will be allowed for time actually on duty. 

On August 15, 1863, Major Judd \vas notified by the Adjutant- 
General that no charge for clothing would be made against the Fifth 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 23 

Delaware on their muster-out rolls. They were mustered in for nine 
months' service. The}' were nmstered out at the expiration of the 
nine months, but received pa}' for only seven weeks' servic(>. 

In the case of Wilson r. tTnited States (25 C. Cls. liepts., p. 339), 
in which one William Wilson, a member of the Fifth Delaware Regi- 
ment, brings action to recover pay for nine months' service less the 
seven weeks for which he had already received pay. Tlie facts are 
stated as follows: 

The Fifth Delaware was ordered to be mustered into the service 
of the United States on October 10, 1862. On November 6, 1862, 
this order was complied with and the troops were mustered in. No 
arrangements were made for housing or subsistence, and the troops 
returned to their homes. On August 7, 1863, they were mustered out 
of the service of the United States and paid for seven weeks' service. 
It is stated that at the time they were mustered out oral protest was 
made because they did not receive the full nine months' pay, and it is 
also stated that had a written protest been made the paying officer 
would not have paid any amount; therefore the soldiers took the 
seven weeks' pay under oral protest. None of these troops ever re- 
ceived any bounty or other emolument than the seven weeks' pay. In 
the case mentioned the Court of Claims found against Wilson largely 
on the fact of the statute of limitations, as Wilson's claim was not 
filed until twenty-three years after his service. In the opinion of the 
court the telegram of the Adjutant-General regarding the time for 
which they should receive pay might not of itself be regarded as an 
executive order, but the fact that the claimant accepted this amount 
and made no formal demand for more until twenty-three years after- 
wards was held by the court to be acquiescence of the order, and 
should therefore not be disturbed after such a lapse of time. 

It also appears in this case that there was some misunderstanding as 
to the status of these troops imtil June 19, 1863, when Governor 
Cannon informed Major Judd that these troops were under the control 
of the War Department in the State of Delaware, and at that time 
they were immediately called out for active duty. 

In connection with' this it might be stated that at the time these 
regiments were raised the Delaware legislature enacted a law to pay 
its citizens a bounty for not enlisting in the Federal Army; also that 
to a large extent the people of the State were in sympathy with the 
confederacy and that while these troops were not held in camp as 
ordinary troops, yet the moral efl'ect of the uniformed and armed 
regiment was suflicient to prevent any demonstrations or hostile acts 
by the confederate sympathizers, and, as before stated, the troops 
rendered service during the entire nine months that would have been 
required of federal troops. 

A full report of all official communications between the U ar 
Department and officers of these regiments will l)e found in the 
adverse report made bv Mr. Prince, from the Committee on Military 
Affairs of the House of'Representatives, on the bill PI. R. 8168, which 
provided for recognition of the military services of these regiments 
(H. Kept. No. 2562). 



24 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

INDIANA, 

The following reply to the letter of inquiry addressed to liim regard- 
ing the Indiana State Militia during the War was received from Gen. 
John R. Ward, adjutant-general of Indiana: 

Adjutant-General's Office, 

State op Indiana, 

October 9, 1905. 
Dear Sir: In reply to yours of September 5, in which you ask me to furnish a 
statement showing the facts concerning the Indiana Militia and Home Guard, the 
total number of organizations composing them and the number or approximate num- 
ber in each organization, the laws and regulations under which they were organized, 
the nature of service engaged in, when and where the various commands were organ- 
ized, when and where disbanded, whether each individual was furnished with form 
of discharge or release from the service, where the service of each organization was 
rendered, whether wholly in or out of the State, duration of period of ser\dce, the 
occasion and character thereof, and for how long any of them served under command 
or orders of United States officers or in connection with United States troops, and 
the average age of soldiers at the time of service, I have the honor to state that I 
agree with you that the preparation of a statement covering the above details will 
involve a great deal of labor if done by original research. 

I have the honor to suggest that you examine the reports of the adjutant-general of 
Indiana for the period covering the civil war. From my examination of these reports 
I believe that the information you desire is therein covered. In any event, these 
reports contain all the information that can be furnished from the records of this office, 
and if additional information is desired it will necessitate research along other lines. 
If the information contained in the above reports is not satisfactory nor sufficient, I 
shall deem it my duty and pleasure to give your committee any assistance that lies in 
my power. 

Very respectfully, yours, Jno. R. Ward, 

Adjutant-General of Indiana. 
Hon. Porter J. McCumber, 

Chairman Committee on Pensions, United States Senate, 

Washington, D. C. 

The published report of the adjutant-general of the State of Indiana 
for the period covering the war shows that the Indiana militia was 
organized under an act of the legislature approved May 11, 1861, and 
was called the Indiana Legion. The law provided that the organiza- 
tion of the legion, complete, should be that of a single arm}' corps 
with two divisions of nine brigades. This organization, embracing 
the whole State, was not, however, completed or maintained. In the 
central and northern parts of the State, where there was little or no 
danger of raids, the Indiana Legion was either not organized, or, if or- 
ganized, was not maintained, and therefore amounted to nothing. Some 
of the northern and central companies of the legion turned out in the 
Morgan raid in July, 1 863 , but with this exception they performed little 
or no duty during the war. In the southern counties the case was 
different, and it was there that the active and energetic organizations 
of the militia were maintained. Kentucky, just across the Ohio 
River, was made free use of by the enemy during the whole war, and 
that State was a favorite recruiting rendezvous for the southern army. 
It was also infestetl with guerrilla parties and marauding bands, 
always intent and read}' to pounce upon and plunder unprotected 
communities of Unionists, north or south. Hence the necessity for 
an active and elllcient force of militia in Indiana along the whole 
river border. 

The active Indiana Legion consisted of fourteen regiments, num- 
bered from the first to the twelfth, inclusive, a regiment from Jen- 
nings County improperly numbered the ninth, and an unnumbered 



FEDERAL AISID STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 25 

regiment from Crawford Coimty. Tlie frequent disturbances and 
raids on the southern border of the State and the tlireutened inva- 
sions of guerilhis lequiretl the legion to be frecjuently called out. 
They did guaixl duty for weeks at a time along the Ohio Kiver, also 
at Camp Morton rebel prison at Indianapolis and took part in several 
expeditions into Kentucky for the protection of loyal citizens there, 
the Fourth Kemment being engao;ed in battle with the enemy at 
Panther Creek, Kentucky, September 20, 1862, where it had 'S killed 
and 35 wounded. The Indiana Legion also rendered important 
service at the time of the Morgan raicl in 'Kily, 1863, the Sixth Regi- 
ment being engaged in battle at Corydon, huf., with ^lorgan's forces. 
The following extract from Governor Morton's message to the Indiana 
legislature January 9, 1863, shows something of the service of the 
Indiana Legion: 

To the officers aud men of the Indiana Legion, the State chiefly owe;? the immunity 
she has enjoyed from invasion, plunder, and murder by the guerilla and marauding 
bands which infested many of the adjoining counties of Kentucky. Not only so, 
their aid and protection has been cheerfully extended to the loyal citizens of Ken- 
tucky when it has been called for. On several occasions they met the enemy in 
battle, when they ably maintained the credit of the State, and behaved with that 
distinguished courage which has characterized the soldiers of Indiana throughout this 
war. Some have fallen in battle, and I earnestly recommend that their families be 
provided for, and placed on a footing at least ecjual to the families of those who fall 
in the federal service. They also rendered prompt and efficient service in guarding 
rebel prisoners when the federal forces performing that duty were called into the 
field. Although the organization and operation of the legion have been chiefly con- 
fined to the counties bordering on the Ohio River, yet much has been done in some 
of the interior counties, and among them I would especially notice the counties of 
Jennings, Decatur, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Putnam, Parke, and Vigo. The response 
which was made from those counties, on sudden calls for military force, was of the 
most energetic and satisfactory character. 

The Indiana Legion w^as also tendered the thanks of the people of 
the State by joint resolution of the legislature' in March. 1865. 

In the published report of the adjutant-general of the State of 
Indiana, under the title of 'Indiana in the V>'ar," vohune 1, page 242, 
it is stated that: 

During the late war about 50,000 men, known as the "Indiana Legion," were armed, 
and from time to time were on active duty, under orders of the governor, in repelling 
rebel raids and guarding the southern border of the State, on the Ohio River, against 
rebel invasion. 

In July, 1863, at the time of the raid of the confederate general, 
John H. Morgan, into Indiana, Governor Morton issued a call upon 
the citizens of Indiana to organize for defense, and within the short 
space of fort3'-eight hours 65,000 men had tendered tlieir services. 
Of this force, thirteen reghnents and one battalion were organized 
specially for this emergency and the regiments designated numeric- 
ally from One hundred and second to ()ne huntlreti and fourteenth, 
inclusive, the battalion being assigned to the One hundred and sev- 
enth Regiment. This force was denominated as "minute men," for 
the emergency, and many of its members belonged to the Indiana 
Legion. Thev were mustered in from July 9 to 13, 1863, and were 
mustered out' from July 15 to 21, 1863. While their active service 
was very brief and comparatively unimportant, yet the moral sup- 
port they rendered the Union forces who were in pursuit of Morgan 
was very great, and indeed it was due nuich to their elForts that 
Morgan's plans were baffled and his raid rendered futile. Some of 



26 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

the Indiana minute men continued the pursuit of Morgan into Ohio; 
a few of the regiments, however, did not take the field. The aggre- 
gate of this force was nearly 10,000 men, rank and file. 

The Indiana Legion and minute men have no pensionable status 
under existing laws. 

KANSAS. 

The following letter was received from Gen. J. W. F. Hughes, adju- 
tant-general of the State of Kansas: 

Adjutant-General's Office, 

Topeka, Kans., September 22, 1905. 

My Dear Sir: Replying to your letter of the 5th instant concerning information 
regarding militia or military organizations of the border States during the war of 1861- 
1865 not regularly mustered into the military service of the United States or accepted 
as forming a component part of its army, I beg to say that Kansas had twenty-four regi- 
ments of infantry and cavalry which were mustered as state militia scattered over 
periods of four years, and which were never a part of the volunteer force of the General 
Government. The most prominent we had was the Price raid organizations, made 
up of young men too young to go to the front and old men too old for service. This 
particular organization drove the rebel brigadier-general, Price, out of Kansas. We 
also had two batteries. 

The conditions of the rolls as they exist in this office are very incomplete and what 
we have are in an exceedingly deplorable condition, and for that reason alone it will 
be almost impossible to get you the data required. In addition to this the informa- 
tion that you desire is so' elaborate, exhaustive, and extensive that the present oflBce 
force alotted this department by the State of Kansas is absolutely inadequate to get 
vou the information requested. 

I regret the situation, but I can not see how it is possible to get you the information 
desired in anv decent length of time, if at all. 

Verv respectfully, J- W. T. Hughes, 

Adjutant-General. 

Mr. D. Kerr, 

Room 10, Senate Annex, 

Washington, D. C. 

The published report of the adjutant-general of Kansas for the 
year 1864 shows that the militia organization of that State then 
embraced 24 regiments and 4 battalions, numbering in the aggregate 
about 15,000 men, rank and file. The regiments were numbered from 
the first to the twenty-fourth, inclusive, and the battalions were known 
as the Santa Fe Baftalion, Allen County Battalion, Bourbon County 
Battalion, and Brown County Battalion. 

The Kansas State Militia "were called upon on many occasions to 
repel invasion or to guard the southern and eastern borders of the 
State, or to drive the enemy from its soil. In many localities, embrac- 
ing several counties in extent, the militia were called upon to guard 
the settlements at night while pursuing their regidar avocations by 
day, thus performing at the same time the duties both of the soldier 
and the citizen. It is stated that for weeks and months, and even 
for vears, was this arduous double labor performed. 

In the fall of 1864. at the time of the invasion of Missouri by 
General Sterling and his confederate army, the entire militia force of 
Kansas was called into active service. They were called out by the 
governor of Kansas by proclamation dated October 8, 1864, at the 
request of Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, then commanding the United 
States forces in Kansas, the purpose being to aid the Union troops in 
repelling the invasion of the confederate forces under General Price. 
Thev were tlien called for thirty davs and they served in connection 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 27 

with United States troops and under orders of officers of the United 
States. Tliey took part in the battle of the B\<r Bhio, October 22, 
1864, and quite a number were killed or wounded or taken j)risoners 
by the enemy. They rendered valuable and ediciont service on this 
occasion, for which they were highly commended by the Union 
commanders. 

Detachments of Kansas Militia were in active service for several 
months durincr the summer of 1864 along the southeastern, soutliern, 
and western borders, guarding those localities against bushwackers 
and Indians. 

No complete roster of the Kansas Militia has ever been compiled, 
as appears from the following prefatory statement contained in the 
reprint of the report of the adjutant-general of Kansas covering the 
period of the war: 

Adjutant-General's Office, 

Topeka, Kans., November 10, 1896. 
It is to be regretted that the time is not sufficient to compile a volume recording 
the names and history of the members of the militia regiments who did such gallant 
service along the border during the dark days of the war. It is a duty that the State 
owes to her brave defenders, and it is to be hoped will be performed before time and 
fast-decaying records render it impossible. 

S. M. Fox, Adjutant-General. 

The Kansas JMilitia not having been mustered into the military 
service of the United States, the members thereof have no pension- 
able status under existing laws. 

Kansas had two regiments mustered into the military service of 
the United States after the war, for the suppression of Indian hos- 
tilities of which it is proper to make mention. These were the Eight- 
eenth and Nineteenth regiments of Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. They 
have a pensionable status under the general law for disabilities in- 
curred in the service and line of duty, but they have no pensionable 
rights under the act of June 27, 1890, as their service was rendered 
some two or three years after the close of the war of the rebellion. 
A bill (H. R. 8631) to extend the provisions of the act of June 27, 1890, 
to the members of these regiments was favorably reported from the 
House Committee on Pensions during the third session of the Fifty- 
third Congress, the report which contains all the facts regarding the 
organization and service of these regiments being as foUows : 

A report from the officer in charge of the Record and Pension Office, War Depart- 
ment, shows that a battalion of the Eighteenth Kansas Cavarly Volunteers organized 
under a circular of June 21, 1867, from headquarters Military Division of Missouri, was 
mustered into the military service of the United States from July 13 to 15, 1867, at 
Fort Harker, Kans., to serve for a period of four months, and that it was mustered out 
of service at the same place November 15, 1867. 

It also appears from the records that the Nineteenth Regiment Kansas Cavalry 
Volunteers, organized under authority contained in a telegram from the Secretary of 
War to Lieutenant-General Sherman, dated October 6, 1868, was mustered into the 
United States service by companies from October 20 to 29, 1868, at Topeka, Kans., to 
serve for a period of six months, and that the regiment was mustered out of service 
April 18, 1869, at Fort Hays, Kans. 

The official report shows that these organizations were called out to aid in the sup- 
pression of Indian hostilities, and the records further show that the battalion of the 
Eighteenth Kansas Cavalry, above referred to, and the Nineteenth Reo:ipent of Kansas 
Cavalry are the only two volunteer organizations mustered into the military service of 
the United States since the war of the rebellion. 

At the time the Eighteenth Kansas was mustered in at Fort Hooker a severe epi- 
demic of cholera prevailed at that place, and it is shown by the records of the War 
Department that 20 deaths occurred in the battalion from that disease. 



28 FEDERAL AND STATE MIUTAEY ORGANIZATIONS. 

On the 2l8t and 22d of August, 1867, Companies B and C of this battalion were in 
an engagement with the Cheyenne Indians on Prairie Dog Creek, in Kansas, with a 
loss of 14 officers and men killed and wounded, and Major Armes, of the Tenth United 
States Cavalry, commends in the highest terms the officers and men of the Eighteenth 
who took part in this engagement in saving the State of Kansas from further depre- 
dations from the Indians. 

In his report the governor of Kansas says: 

"On the 30th of August Major Moore, with the Eighteenth Kansas, struck a portion 
of the Indians who had engaged Major Armes on the 21st and 22d, and after an engage- 
ment of several hours gained a decisive victory. About the same time Major Elliott, 
with a detachment of the Seventh United States Cavalry, attacked another band 
and drove them in a westerly direction toward the headwaters of the Republican. 
After these several engagements the Indians retired to their winter haunts and left 
the frontier settlements of Kansas comparatively at peace." 

In General Sheridan's report, dated Chicago, 111., November 1, 1869, speaking of 
the depredations of the Indians on the plains during the previous summer and winter, 

he says: i ..u 

"So boldly had this system of murder and robbery been earned on, that not less than 
800 people had been murdered since June, 1862— men, women, and children." 

It had been the custom of the Indians to raid the frontier settlements during the 
summer, and then seek security by retiring into the mountains during the winter. 
General Sheridan continues: 

"To disabuse the minds of the savages of their confident security, and to strike 
them at the period when they were the most, if not entirely, helpless, became a neces- 
sity, and the general in chief then in command of this division authorized a winter 
campaign." • • ^.u 

The Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry was mustered into the United States service in the 
last days of October for the purpose of prosecuting the campaign at this season of the 
year. On the 5th of November the regiment moved from Topeka, Kans., and, cross- 
ing tiie Arkansas River at Wichita, moved in a southwest direction to join the Seventh 
United States Cavalry, near the junction of Beaver Creek with the North Canadian, 
112 miles south of Fort Dodge, at a cantonment called Camp Supply. 

On the march the command was caught in a severe snowstorm, and, becoming 
entangled in the canvons of the Cimarron, did not reach Camp Supply until the 30th 
of November. Of this incident in the history of the regiment General Sheridan says: 

"The regiment lost its way, and, becoming entangled up in the canyons of the Cim- 
arron and in the deep snow, it could not make its way out and was in a bad fix. * * 
It had been subsisting on buffalo for eight or nine days. * * * Officers and men 
behaved admirably in the trying condition in which they were placed, but the poor 
horses suffered greatly, and a number of them were lost." 

Of the march down the Washita General Sheridan says: 

"The snow was still on the ground and the weather very cold, but the officers and 
men were very cheerful, altliough the men had only shelter tents. We moved due 
south until we struck the Wasliita, near Custer's fight of November 27, having crossed 
the main Canadian, with the thermometer about 18° below zero. On the next day 
we started down the Washita, following the Indian trail; but finding so many deep 
ravines and canyons I thought we would move out on the divide, but a blinding snow- 
storm coming on, and fearing to get lost with a large command and trains of wagons 
on a treeless prairie without water, we were forced back to the banks of the Washita, 
where we at least could get wood and water. * * * 

"This was continued until the evening of the 16th of December, when we came to 
the vicinity of the Indians, principally Kiowas. They did not dream that any sol- 
diers could operate in such cold and inclement weather, and we marched down on 
thembefore they knew of our presence in the country." 

The result of this campaign was that Santanta and Lone Wolf, chiefs of the KioWas, 
were taken prisoners, and by a threat of execution that tribe was forced to report at 
Fort Cobb, together with the Comanches and Apaches, and finally induced to go on 
their reservation. ^ , ■ nr • j 

From Fort Cobb the command marched to the base ot the \\ ashita Mountains and 
established Fort Sill, near Medicine Bluff. On the 2d of :yiarch following the Nine- 
teenth Kansas Cavalry and the Seventh United States Cavalry, under the command of 
General Custer, went in pursuit of the Cheyetines. The course pursued was via Camp 
Radiminski, mouth of Elk Creek, to a point on North Fork of Red River, a few miles 
above the mouth of Salt Fork. , .„ . ,„„„ j ^ n w 

The Cheyenne trail was struck on Salt Fork on the 6th of March, 1869, and followed to 
the north along the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado until the 20th of March, when 
the Cheyennes were caught camped on Sweetwater Creek, about 10 miles west of the 



PEDERAI. AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 29 

eastern line of Texas. This march was made practically without transportatioo or 
adequate supplies, and for the last few days the men subsisted on mule meat without 
bread or salt. 

In General Custer's oflEicial report of this campaign he uses the following language: 

"The point at which we found the Cheyenne village was in Texas, on the Sweet- 
water, about 10 miles west of the state line. Before closing my report I desire to 
call the attention of the major-general commanding to the imvaryiiig good conduct 
of this command since it undertook the march. We started with all the rations and 
forage that could be obtained, neither sufficient for the time for which we have 
already been out. First, it been me necessary to reduce the amount of rations; after- 
wards a still greater reduction was necessary, and to-night most of my men made 
their suppers from the flesh of mules that have died on the march to-day from starva- 
tion. When called upon to move in light marching order, they abandoned tents and 
blankets without a murmer, although much of the march has been made during the 
severest winter weather I have experienced in this latitude. 

"The horses and mules of this command have subsisted day after day upon nothing 
but green cottonwood bark. During all these privations the oflicers and men main- 
tained a most cheerful spirit, and 1 know not which 1 admire most, their gallantry 
in battle or the patient but unwavering persistence and energy with which they 
have withstood the many disagreeable ordeals of this campaign. 

"As the term of service of the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry is approaching its ter- 
mination, and I may not again have the satisfaction of commanding them during 
active operations, I desire to commend them — officers and men — to the favorable 
notice of the Commanding-General. Serving on foot, they have marched in a manner 
and at a rate that would put some of the regular regiments of infantry to the blush. 
Instead of crying out for empty wagons to transport them, each morning every man 
marched witli his troop, and — what might be taken as an exami)le by some of the line 
officers of the regular infantry — company officers marched regularly on foot at the 
head of their respective companies; and now, when approaching the termination 
of a march of over 300 miles, on greatly deficient rations, I have yet to see the first 
straggler. 

"In obtaining the release of the captive white women, and that, too, without ran- 
som or the loss of a single man, the men of my command, and particularly those of the 
Nineteenth Kansas, who were called into service owing to the murders and depreda- 
tions of which the capture of these women formed a part, feel more fully repaid for 
the hardships they have endured than if they had survived an overwhelming victory 
over the Indians." 

Your committee is further ad\-ised by Hon. H. L. Moore, Member of Congress, who 
was the major commanding the Eighteenth Kansas during the whole term of its sendee, 
that this battalion, as well as the Nineteenth Kansas, was composed largely of men 
■whose homes had been devastated and families murdered by the Indians during their 
raids on the frontier settlements. The Eighteenth suffered a loss of some 10 per cent 
from cholera and the casualties of battle. Its service was constant and arduous during 
the whole term of its enlistment. 

The Nineteenth Kansas, of which Mr. Moore was lieutenant-colonel, and which he 
commanded during the latter half of its term of service, prosecuted this campaign 
during the most inclement weather, and, as the official report shows, much of the time 
without adequate food or camp equipage. The result of the campaign was to clear 
the plains of the Indians of the Southwest by forcing them onto their reservations, 
where thev have remained ever since. 

Upon full and careful consideration of this bill your committee are unanimously 
agreed that it is one of exceptional merit. The service rendered by these two organi- 
zations was of a very exceptional character, and the results of the same have been 
widespread and beneficent. 

No dangerous precedent will be established by the enactment of this bill into law, 
as it will be remembered these are the only volunteer organizations which have been 
mustered into the United States service since the civil war. 

The bill is therefore returned with the recommendation that it do pass. 

This bill failed of passage. 

KENTUCKY. 

The following report, made in the second session of the Fifty-second 
Congress from the House Committee on Invalid Pensions on bjll (H. R. 
7554) to grant a pension to survivors of certain battalions of Kentucky 
Militia, etc., contains much information regarding a number of Ken- 



30 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

tucky state troops that were in service during the war and the orders 
and state laws under which they were raised : 

The Committee on Invalid Pensions have considered the bill (H. R. 7554) granting 
a pension to survivors of certain battalions of Kentucky Militia, etc., and submit the 
following report, recommending the passage of the accompanying substitute for the 
bill under consideration. 

The object of the bill, as introduced, is to place those who served in the organiza- 
tions named under the provisions of the act of June 27, 1890, which requires a service 
of ninety days and a present disability, not due to vicious habits. 

In considering the bill these questions arise: 

(1) Under what authority were the said organizations raised and paid? 

(2) Were they subject to the orders of United States officers, and what was the char- 
acter of the service performed? 

On these points the following facts and arguments have been presented to the 
committee: 

The P'rankfort, Paducah, and Sandy Valley battalions, which were known as the 
Capital Guard Regiment, were intended to aid and assist the federal troops, and were 
to be held subject to the call of the district commander for any service in Kentucky, 
and they were raised by order of the governor of Kentucky, under sanction of an order 
dated July 11, 1864, and signed by Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

The North Cumberland, Three Forks, Halls Gap, Green River, Middle Green 
River, South Cumberland, and Frankfort battalions, and First Kentucky State Cavalry 
and Frankfort Battalion were raised under an act of the Kentucky legislature approved 
January 26, 1864, entitled "An act empowering the governor to raise a force for the 
defense of the State." 

The Harlem County Battalion was raised under the militia laws of the State, and 
was mustered into the state service October 13, 1862, and was mustered out January 
13, 1863. It comprised 7 companies, of 494 men, and performed service in eastern 
Kentucky, along the Tennessee and Virginia borders, affording protection to the loyal 
people of that section and preventing the destruction of property by the evil inclined 
and at the same time acting as an advance guard for the federal troops. 

The (,'asey County State Guards, and Captain Bussey's Bath County Rangers were 
organized under the militia laws of Kentucty, and, being ordered on duty, the former 
was assigned to and performed duty with the thirst Kentucky Cavalry, whilst the latter, 
after having performed service from December 11, 1863, to April 1, 1864, was assigned 
to and performed duty with the Capital Guard Regiment, and was then knowTi as Com- 
pany F, of the Frankfort Battalion of that regiment, and was mustered out February 6, 
1865. 

It may be proper to state that the Halls Gap Battalion also included the Mercer 
County State Guards, which organization was raised under the militia laws of the State, 
and that the Frankfort Battalion was a distinct organization from that of the same name 
raised under the order of Secretary Stanton, heretofore referred to. 

It appears from the records in the Third Auditor's OfBce that the State of Kentucky 
made a claim against the United States on account of expenses incurred in behalf of 
the organizations mentioned in the bill and was reimbursed therefor, and that the 
United States reimbursed Kentucky, on account of expenses incurred in raising volun- 
teers, to the amount of $3,504,466.77, being a greater amount than was paid to any 
other State, except the States of Missouri, New York, and Illinois. 

The said organizations performed the same character of service in the State of 
Kentucky as was requii'ed of United States troops. They were in the service not 
less than ninety days, some for six months, others for about one year. They rendered 
valuable and efficient service to the State and General Government, and cooperated 
with the forces of the United States, and were subject to the orders of United States 
officers for services to be performed within the State. 

Hon. John M. Palmer, now United States Senator from Illinois, and formerly 
department commander of Kentucky, under date of January 21, 1893, says: 

"The Kentucky State troops, as a rule, were under my command in the department 
of Kentucky, and I treated them as troops subject to my command. Some of the 
organizations performed valuable services, and ought to be provided for by the pen- 
sion laws. " 

Gen. Green Clay Smith appeared before the committee and stated that at times 
during the war he commanded federal troops in Kentucky; that he was then a resi- 
dent of the State, and a native thereof, and well acquainted with the conditions pre- 
vailing therein at that time, and he had no doubt whatever that the organizations 
mentioned in the bill were at all times subject to the orders of the department com- 
mander, and rendered important service in behalf of the United States in protecting 
and guarding its property, its lines of communication, and aiding in driving its enemies 
from loyal territory. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 



31 



Kentucky furnished three clarfses of troops in behalf of the General Government 
during the late war — those that were mustered into the United States service, those 
that were known as the state militia proper and which did not perform service for 
ninety days, and those mentioned in this bill. 

A table is appended hereto showing ihe number and when nmsti-red in in each 
organization mentioned in the bill, the whole number being 4,983, and Ihe number 
mustered out being about 4,200. But as many of these ])erformed niilitary service 
in other organizations, which ser\ice placed them within the jirovisions of the pension 
laws, it is thought that not more than 2,500 would be placed under the provisions of 
this bill, as originally presented, should it become a law. 

Having directly sanctioned the organization of some of these troops, and having 
accepted the services of all of them, they having been subject to the orders of the 
commander of the Department of Kentucky, and having reimbursed Kentucky for 
all expenses incurred in their organization and maintenance, it seems that the General 
Government, so far as its military, executive, and ministerial officials had power so 
to do, have regarded the organizations mentioned in the bill as if thev had been 
mustered into the United States service for all practical purposes. And that being 
true, it would be fair dealing to place them, as far as this bill can do so, upon an equal 
footing with the same class of troops furnished by the States of Missouri and Pennsyl- 
vania, which have been placed under the provisions of the pension laws. 

Following is the table above referred to, compiled from the report of the adjutant- 
general of Kentucky: 



Frankfort Battalion 

Paducah Battalion 

Sandy Valley Battalion 

North Cumberland Battalion. 

Three Forks Battalion 

HaUs Gap Battalion 

Mercer County Guards 

Green River Battalion 

Middle Green River Battalion 
South Cumberland Battalion. , 
First Kentucky State Cavalry 
Casey County State Guards.".. 
Frankfort Battalion 

Total 

Field and staff 

Total 

Harlan County Battalion 

Total 



Mustered 

in at I Mustered 
organiza- { out. 

tion. 



675 
421 
293 
270 
752 
354 
98 
292 
303 
449 
368 
103 
100 



4.478 
11 



527 
306 
244 
209 
583 
331 

79 
264 
273 
415 
330 
103 

67 



3,730 
7 



4,489 
494 



3,737 
(o) 



a Not shown in adjutant-general's report. 

In view of the facts shown, your committee have been unwilling to recommend the 
passage of the bill as presented, for the reason that to do so would be to assume to 
determine that the organizations named were essentially in the service of the United 
States during the entire period of their service. It does seem proper, however, that 
these troops should be placed in a position as good as, but no better than, that given 
to the Missouri State Militia, and your committee therefore report the accompanying 
bill as a substitute for the bill H. R. 7554, and respectfully recommend that the sub- 
stitute do pass. 

This bill failed of passage and no pensionable rights accrue on 
account of service in these organizations. The period of service of 
these troops was generally about six months, though a few of them 
served about one year, the earhest period of service was from the 
first part of 1 864 . The following is taken from the pubhshed report of 
the adjutant-general of the State of Kentucky, dated September 1, 
1867, volume 2, pages 825, 826, as showing something of the service 
of these organizations: 

All these troops did valuable and efficient service to the State and the General Gov- 
ernment, as the history of the time would fully show. The Sandy Valley Battalion 



32 pedeeaTj and state militaey organizations. 

rendered most important service during the Saltville raid. The Frankfort Battalion 
protected the capital from the freqiient incm-sions of guerrilla forces. The Paducah 
Battalion protected the southwestern portion of the State. Shortly after the muster- 
out of this battalion, the gallant Capt. Thomas J. Gregory, Company A, was killed 
in action while leading a charge against a guerrilla force. 

The troops raised under the act of January 26, 1864, were enlisted subsequent to the 
muster out of the Capital Guard Regiment and were located as follows: 

The Three Forks Battalion in the extreme southwestern portion of the State, with 
headquarters at Booneville. 

The Halls Gap Battalion in the locality between Stanford and Halls Ciap; head- 
quarters at Stanford. 

The Green River Battalion in the counties between the Ohio and Green rivers, with 
headquarters at Calhoun. 

The Middle Green River Battalion in the southern portion of the State, with head- 
quarters at Rochester. 

The South Cumberland Battalion also in the Southern portion of the State, with 
headquarters at Burksville. 

The First Kentucky CaA-alry in the central part of the State, with headquarters at 
Lebanon. 

The Frankfort Battalion was assigned to duty in guarding the Louisville and Lex- 
ington railroad and the country adjacent thereto. 

All of these battalions performed the most valuable service against the rebels and 
guerrillas under Morgan, Johnson, South, Lyon, Mundy, Gentry, Jesse, etc., and for 
some time freed the State from the incursions of these troops (the acts of many of 
whom were barbarous in the extreme). This was accomplished notwithstanding their 
efficiency was somewhat crip])led, first, by the then military commander of the 
district of Kentucky, and second, by partisan feeling and prejudice. 

This report does not give any particulars of service rendered by 
these forces under command of "^United States officers, or in connec- 
tion with United States troops. It shows, however, that 66 of them 
died and 27 were killed, some of these being killed in action. 

Kentucky had another body of state militia, state guards, and 
home guards that were on active duty at various periods during the 
war. The published report of the adjutant-general of the State of 
Kentucky, volume 2, page 903, shows the designations and strength 
of the organizations composing this force to have been as follows : 

Home guard companies called out by Generals Anderson and Sherman 1, 534 

Police guard Kentucky Central Railroad 1, 470 

Oldham County State Guard 63 

Shelby County State Guard 35 

Spencer County State Guard 56 

Nelson County State Guard 49 

Flower Creek Home Guard 33 

Martin's company , Home Guard 57 

Ohio County Home Guard 155 

Leonard's company. Home Guard 60 

Forty-first Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia 1, 096 

Forty-second Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia 1, 393 

Frankfort l^^nion Guards 57 

Rockcastle and Lincoln County Home Guard 304 

Twenty-second Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia 112 

Sixty -eighth Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia 615 

Sixty-fifth Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia 347 

Thirty-sixth Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia 280 

Peak's Mill Rangers 51 

Fleming County State Guard 102 

Hardin County State Guard 42 

Capt. R. R. Bacon's company, State Guard 26 

Capt. Greenbery Reid's company, Kentucky National Legion 84 

Capt. H. H. Johnson's companyj Kentucky National Legion 87 

Lieut. George W. Burchett's company, Kentucky National Legion 14 

Total 8-122 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 33 

These militia and home <^uards served short terms at various inter- 
vals during the war beginnino; in the fall of 1S61; some of them were 
in service as late as in November, 1865. A great many of them 
served less than twenty days, some served one and two months, and 
but very few, if any, were in service three months. Their ])rincipal 
duty was the guarding of railroads, bridges, locks, etc. The 1^'orty- 
first and Forty-second Regiments Kentucky Enrolled Militia were 
thirty-daj^ men, called out at the tunc of Bragg's invasion. The 
Sixty-eighth Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia, tliirty tlays' 
service, is recognized by the \Var Department as having been accepted 
into the military service of the United States and the members thereof 
have pensionable status under the general law. They have no status 
under the act of June 27, 1890, as their service was less than ninety 
days. None of the other Kentucky state organizations has pension- 
able rights luider existing laws. 

Whether an}^ of these troops served out of the limits of Kentucky 
is not known, but it is not probable that they did; neither is it re- 
ported that any of them served under the commantl of United States 
officers, or in connection with United States troops, except that the 
report of the adjutant-general of Kentucky mentions that 1,534 of 
the home guards of that State were called out by Generals Anderson 
and Sherman. The home guards, so called, were on active duty in 
the fall of 1861, a few serving a little over one month, but the majority 
less than fifteen days. The Thurston Guards, called out by General 
Anderson, served twelve days in September, 1862. 

MARYLAND. 

The adjutant-general of Maryland, replying to a letter of inquiry 
relative to Maryland Militia, home guards, etc., reports that the 
records of his olHce are now inaccessible because of extensive altera- 
tions which are being made in the state house at Annapolis, a work 
which will not be completed for some time. He further states, how- 
ever, that in 1898 there was prepared from those records and pub- 
lished under the authority of the general assembly of IMaryland by 
a state commission a complete History and Roster of Maryland 
Volunteers, W'ar of 1861-1865. 

Mar3dand was one of the slave-holding States, and because of the 
very strong southern feeling which possessed many of her citizens at 
the outbreak of the war her militia became disorganized and a con- 
siderable number of its members entered the confederate service. 
An examination of the History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, 
War of 1861-1865, above mentioned, shows that Maryland had 
no state militia or state military organizations in service during the 
war, though she raised at times emergency troops when her soil was 
invaded by the enemy, but these troops were mustered into the 
military service of the United States. These emergency troops were 
raised in 1863 and 1864. 

The Ninth and Tenth Regiments of Infantry, Maryland Volunteers, 
were organized in July, 1863, to serve six moriths; they were really 
emergency men to aid in repelling the invasion of Maryland and 
Pennsylvania by General L^e's confederate army of northern Vir- 
ginia. Both regiments rendered good service, and the Ninth Regi- 

S. Doc. 378, 61-2 3 



34 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

ment was surrounded and captured bv an overwhelming force of the 
enemy after a o^alhmt defense at Charlestown, Va., October 18, 1863. 

The Eleventh Reo;iment of Infantry, Maryland Volunteers, was 
organized June 16, 1864, to serve one hundred days as emergency 
men to repel the invasion of the State by General Early's army and 
participated in the battle of Monocacy, Md., July 9, 1864, a battle 
made necessary against odds, in order to save the capital at ^\'ash- 
ington from capture. 

The Twelfth Regiment of Infantry, Maryland Volunteers, was 
organized July 30, 1864, as another emergency regiment for one hun- 
dred days and was assigned to guard duty to ena})le veteran i-egiments 
to proceed to the front. 

The Second Regiment of Cavalry, Maryland Volunteers, was organ- 
ized from July 1, 1863, to August 19, 1863, for six months as an 
emergency regiment, and for special service in southern Maryhmd. 

Batteries A and B (Second) Maryland Light Artillery, were organ- 
ized in July, 1863, to serve six months, and were assigned to garrison 
duty in the fortifications for the defenses of Baltimore, Mil. 

All of these troops were mustered into the military service of the 
United States and formed a part of its military establishment, and 
their pensionable rights under existing laws are fully recognized. 

MISSOURI. 

A complete statement of the various classes of Missouri volunteei-s, 
militia, and home guards that were in service during the war, and the 
law^s, orders, and regulations under which the}" were raised, was pre- 
pared by General Ains worth in the summer of 1902, and is contamed 
m Senate Document 412, Fifty-sevent}^ Congress, first session, which 
is too voluminous to be reprinted here. A summarized statement 
showing the Missouri troops that were in service during the war is 
contained in Senate Document 163, Fifty-eighth Congress, third 
session, as follows: 

Three months^ inUitia, 1861 . — The officers and meu of these orojanizations were held 
by the War Department, in 1897, to have been State militia called into service of the 
United States by the President, and entitled to full volunteer and pension status. 
(R. and P. Div. Decisions Xo. 450, 639. See S. Doc. 412, p. 11, 57th Cong., 1st sess.) 

Six months' militia. — These were strictly State home-j^uard forces, organized and 
employed for the protection of the lives and property of the citizens of Missouri. 
They were paid bv the State, but afterwards the State was reimbursed by an act of 
Congress approved April 17, 1866. (14 Stat. L., 38, 39.) 

They have never been recognized by the \\'ar Department as having any volunteer 
army status, nor by the Pension Department as having any pensionable status, nor 
has anj'^ act of Congress given them such, except the limited provisions of paragraph 3, 
section 4693, Revised Statutes. 

Missouri state viilitia. — This was a peculiar force, entirely separate and apart from 
all other militia organizations of the State. Its province was to cooperate with United 
States troops "in repelling the invasion of the State and sujipressing rebellion therein." 
Gen. J. M. Schofield, U. S. Volunteers, was assigned to the command of these forces 
November 27, 1861. By the act of PY^bruary 13, 1862 (12 Stat. L., 339), it Avas provided 
"that no volunteers or militia from any State or Territory shall, be mustered into the 
service of the United States on any terms or conditions confining their service to the 
limits of said State or Territory, beyond the number of 10,000 in the State of Missouri 
and 4,500 in the State of Maryland, heretofore authorized by the President of the 
United States or Secretary of War to be raised in said States." 

In Missouri the aforesaid limit was reached on April 1, 1862, and the force, which 
had reached a numerical strength of over 13,000, was slowly reduced to the limit. 
This reduction gave rise to a long controversy between the State and Federal Govern- 



FEDERAL AND STATE MIIJTAKV OIUIAKM/ATIONS. 35 

ment, which rcsultod in their rec()<;;nilion, for purpo'cs of veteran hoinitv at least, aw 
United States troops, and by the act of July l:i, 18(iS (15 Stat. I.., LTilJ), tliese and the 
otlier state troops therein mentioned were phiced on an efpial footiii<^r willi \-ohinlcerH 
as to bounties of all kinds. 

These troops were «i:iven a ])ensionable status under tlie <,'eneral laws by the act of 
<\)n<>;ress appro\ed March 8, 1S73 (17 Stat. L., 5(i9, 570). (See p. 45, Senate Doc. 412, 
57th Cons;., 1st sess.) 

They were also given the benefits of the act of June 27, ]8!)(), by tlic act of ("ongre.sH 
a])proved February 15, 1895 (28 Stat. !>., f»70), above (pioted. 

Attention is called to the following excerpt from the aforesaid Senate document -112: 

"In c:)nsiderinv' the status of the ^lissouri Stale Militia it is to be borne in mind that 
in the order of the War Department (General Orders, No. 9(1, of ]8(il) authorizing 
their employment they are referred to as 'a forceof state militia' organized 'tocoo|)erate 
with the troops in the service of the liiited States' in a limited field of .service; that 
they were mustered into the service of the State of Missouri by state oflicers; that the 
oath administered to them at the time of muster in was that they should "honestly and 
faithfully serve the State of Missouri;' that the Tresident and the War Dejiartnient 
conceded to the governor of the State the right to accept resignations and remove 
officers; that it was determined by the Secretary of War, concurring in the opinion 
of the Solicitor of the War Dei)artment, that they were 'militia of the State of Mi.ssouri 
and not a part of the regular or volunteer forces of the I'nited States,' and, therefore, 
not entitled tf) the service bounty, and that special legislation by Congress was neces- 
sary to give to the members of the force the bounties and ))ensionM payable to volun- 
teers in the military service of the United States. 

"But it is also to be considered that the act of P'ebruary i:^, 1862, by implication, 
reco^Tiized the Missouri State Militia as being then in the military sorvico of the 
United States; that until December, 1S()'2, when the President recognized the author- 
ity of the governor to remove ofhcers, it was uniformly held by the War Department 
that this militia force was in the ITnited States service; that the War Department 
authorized the enlistment of members of the force as veteran volunteers, a privilege 
generallv extended only to those who had served the United States; that after the 
ruling of ]8(i4 that the Missouri State Militia was not a |)art of the reeular or volun- 
teer forces of the United States the War Department exercised the authority to deter- 
mine when their service shonld terminate, and directed that they should be mustered 
out under the same regulations that were applied to the 'muster out and discharge of 
other troops from the service of the United States.' 

"And in this connection it is to be stated that on January 30, 1805, the Provost- 
Marshal-General, in a letter authorizing the governor of Missouri to organize addi- 
tional regiments for the volunteer service, excluded from enlistment in the new 
regiments members of the 'Missouri State Militia or other troo])s already in the service 
of the United States;' that the Missouri State Militia were, in fact, mustered out 
of service bv United States officers, and that their muster-out rolls report them as 
bavins- been mustered out of the United States service; that the rolls of the several 
organizations were received and filed in the \\'ar Department like those of volunteers 
in the United States service; that these rolls were always reported from by the Adjutant- 
General's Office to the accounting officers of the Government precisely in the form 
and manner observed in the prei)aration of reports from the rolls of troops regularly 
mustered into the United States military .service; that the remuster and desertion 
laws applicable to officers and enlisted men in the military service of the United 
States and the act providing for the furnishing of certificates in lieu of lost discharges 
were applied to the Missouri State Militia precisely as if that force had been regu- 
larly in the military service of the United States, and, finally, that the practice of 
the" Adjutant-General's Office with respect to these troops has been continued by 
the Record and Pension Office, its pro])riety not having been called in question. 

"It is evident from the foreiroing that the peculiar military force known as the 
Missouri State Militia was not technicalh" in the military service of the United States; 
and the practice inaugurated in the Adjutant-General's Office of treating it as a vol- 
unteer force in that service is doubtle.-^s o])en to criticism, but it is to be stated that 
the reports furnished from the rolls contained the information required in the adjudi- 
cation of claims arising under the special legislation providing for the payment of 
bounties and pensions,' and that the application of the remuster and other laws appli- 
cable to the volunteer forces has an equitable if not a strictly legal foundation. How- 
ever, regardless of the proprietv of the action of the War Department with regard 
to this force, it would seem that it is no\\-, after the lapse of more than a third of a 
centurv, too late to change the existing practice, and the Missouri State Militia has 
therefore been scheduled in this paper among the troops recognized as ha\-ing been 
in the militarv service of the United States. 



36 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

"As already stated in this paper, the Missouri State Militia, which originally aggre- 
gated 13,000 men, was reduced by special authority of Congress to a maximun^i of 
10,000. The force as originally organized included 14 regiments, 3 battalions, and 1 
independent company of cavalry, 2 batteries of light artillery, 1 regiment of infantry, 
and 1 company of sappers and miners." 

Enrolled Missouri Militia. — This was a peculiar state force, organized out of the 
Btate militia for the purpose of putting down marauders and defending the peace- 
able citizens of the State. No special legislation by Congress has been enacted for 
their benefit. On September 28, 1878, Attorney-General held that this force did 
not constitute a part of the army of the United States, but were a force acting from 
time to time in cooperation with it. (16 Op. Attorney-General, 148.) 

Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia. — These troops, sixty-two companies, were 
taken from or out of the Enrolled Missouri Militia, supra, and were organized for 
local and temporary service in their respective counties for protection against guer- 
rillas and armed and paid by the State. They were not parts of the army of the 
United States. The Secretary of the Interior has decided that they are not included 
in the provisions of section 4722, Revised Statutes, referred to, supra, nor of the act 
of Congress of February 15, 1895 (28 Stat. L., 970), and differentiated by him from 
the " Provisional Missouri Militia. " (8 Dec. Secretary of Interior, Pensions and Bounty, 
518, 530, set out above.) 

Missouri Militia, 1865. — These were troops who were organized by order of Gen. 
G. M. Dodge, January 7, 1865, under authority of the Government of the United States, 
in anticipation of the disbandment of the Enrolled Missouri Militia, and served under 
general officers of the United States until relieved in June and July, 1865. 

"They were generally engaged in guarding posts and lines of communication, doing 
escort duty, and hunting guerrillas and bushwhackers." They are, according to the 
same authority, "deserving of the thanks of all well-disposed and loyal citizens for 
their prompt suppression of lawlessness which had been so fearfully prevalent through- 
out the State." 

The status of these troops was that of Militia of the State of Missouri, which, though 
serving under United States officers, was not accepted into the military service of the 
United States. The State was reimburesd under the act of April 17, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 
p. 38), for the expenses incurred in their organization and service. 

The adjutant-general of the State reports that fifty-eight companies were "placed in 
the field," but upon investigation sixty-one companies have been identified as hav- 
ing had an organized existence under the provisions of State General Orders, No. 3 
"and the extensions thereof." 

They have not, up to this time, been included in any special or general law extend- 
ing the benefits of bountj- or pension laws to Missouri Militia. 

United States Reserve Corps, Missouri Volunteers. — This force, consisting of five regi- 
ments of infantry and one company of cavalry, was completed within a few days and 
was mustered into the military service of the United States to serve three months. 
The company and regimental officers were elected and were mustered into service 
without commissions. Capt. T. W. Sweeny, Second U. S. Infantry, was elected 
brigadier-general, and on ]\Iay 20, 1861, was assigned to the command of the brigade in 
an order of which the following is a copy: 

[Book No. 87, Departments of the West and Western, p. 296.) 

Special Orders,"! Headquarters Department of the West, 

No. 62. j St. Louis, Mo., May 20, 1861. 

Capt. T. W. Sweeny, Second Infantry, is assigned to the command of the United 
States Reserve Corps raised in the city of St. Louis, to which corps the company of 
recruits now under the charge of Captain Sweeny is attached for guard duty. 
By order of Brigadier-General Harney. 

S. Williams, Assistant Adjutant-General. 

The United States Reserve Corps, including the brigadier-general and staff, was 
mustered into the United States service as militia under the President's call of April 15, 
1861, and was credited by the War Department to the State of Missouri under that call. 
In 1897 the question as to the status of these troops being under consideration, it was 
decided by the Assistant Secretary of War that they, including the officers of all grades, 
must be considered to have been state militia called into the service of the United 
States by the President, and that the officers are entitled to the same recognition that 
they would have been entitled to receive if they had been appointed and commissioned 
by the governor of the State. (R. and P., 450639.) 

United States Reserve Corps, three years' service. — This corps consisted of 1 battalion of 
cavalry, 1 regiment of artillery, and 10 regiments, 3 battalions, and 10 independent 
companies of infantry. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 37 

On August 12, 1861, specific instructions for the reorganization of the United States 
Reserve Corps were given by Major-General Fremont, who had been assigned to the 
command of the Western l)('|)artment. These instructions contemplated the organi- 
zation of 5 regiments of infantry with a reserve of two companies to each, 2 squadrons 
of cavalry, and 2 batteries of light artillery, the whole force to be subject to the same 
regulations and to receive the same pay as other volunteers, except the reserve com- 
panies, which were to receive pay only when called into actual service. The full 
text of the instructions is as follows: 

[Book No. 8, Deparlnicnl of the West, pp. .351-3.5:!.) 

Headquarters Western Department, 

St. Louis, Mo., August 12, JS61. 

Sir: Inasmuch as the term of the several regiments of the United States Reserve 
Corps in St. Louis has expired, or in a few days will expire, and the men be paid off, 
and as the present state of political affairs in Missouri, as well as the movements and 
designs of the enemy, will not permit their being permanently disbanded, I have 
determined, in order to promote the common welfare and protect public and i)rivate 
property, to have them forthwith reorganized. 

The new organization will comprise 5 regiments of infantry with a reserve of 2 
companies to each, 2 squadrons of cavalry, and 2 batteries of light artillery. 

The troops will be required to enlist for the war, unless sooner discharged, and will 
(except the reserve companies) be subject to the same regulations and receive con- 
tinuously the same pay as the volunteer regiments. 

The reserve companies will be required to replace the Home Guard regiments, 
should the latter for any cause be called to other counties of this State, and will receive 
the regular pay of volunteers for such actual service. When not in service the reserve 
ccmpanies will be under more liberal regulations; they will not be obliged to perform 
guard duty, and their hours of drilling will, so far as possible, be made to conform to 
their peculiar public and private position. 

In order to accomplish, without delay, this urgent reorganization of the Home Guard 
of the city of St. Louis, you are hereby directed to assemble your regiment at their 
headquarters, and ascertain from each man under your command whether he would 
prefer to continue in the regiment, or to join the cavalry or artillery, or serve only 
in the reserve for the above-mentioned peculiar emergencies. 

After ascertaining in this way the wishes of the men you will i)roceed immediately 
to the reorganization of the infantrj^ regiments. 

The companies will in the first place elect their company officers, who will there- 
upon nominate their field officers and submit their names for approval to the general 
commanding the department. 

The colonels, when accepted, will nominate a brigadier and submit his name in 
like manner for approval. After his appointment a brigadier inspector will be 
selected by the general commanding. 

The officers of the regiment having been decided upon, the reorganization of the 
regiment, and, if possible, also that of the reserve companies should be immediately 
completed and the returns submitted to this department. 

You will communicate this order to all the members of your regiment and proceed 
with the execution of it until the election and approval of a colonel, who will, imme- 
diately after his appointment, report himself with his officers to these headquarters, 
when the regiment will be uniformed, armed, equipped, and jjrovided with every- 
thing necessary for actual service and at the same time with special instructions for drill 
and discipline. 

The rolls of those men who should prefer to join the cavalry or artillery you will also 
submit as early as possible, with the officers suggested, to these headquarters. 

Should any deficiency exist this department will supply all the different companies 
with efficient oflficers and complete their organization. 

As it is my design to have in each regiment one company of sharpshooters and one 
company of pioneers, all the best marksmen should be concentrated in erne company 
and all the best mechanics in another, under officers best adapted to the command of 

those companies. ^ ^ ,^ . 

J. C. Fremont, 
Major-General, Commanding. 

Col. J. McNeill, 

United States Reserve Corps, St. Louis. 

Their status as United States volunteers under the bounty and pension laws seem 
to have been conceded. 



38 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

Three years' volunteers, Missouri.- — These troops, like the Missouri militia of 1861, 
were enrolled and organized under the supervision of the United States military 
authorities. As finally reorganized this force consisted of 13 regiments of cavalry, 2 
regiments of artillery, 1 regiment of engineers, and 23 regiments of infantry. That 
they rendered gallant service in defense of the Union is "abundantly shown by the 
official records. As to the status of these troops in general, no comment is necessary 
bej^ond the mere statement of the fact that they were in the military service of the 
United States, and that the surviving members of the force and the heirs of those 
deceased are entitled to all the benefits accruing from such service. Their right to 
participate in all benefits from bounty and pension laws is unquestioned. 

Six or twelve months'' volunteers, Missouri. — These troojis were called into the service 
of the Government in 1861, shortly after the reverses suffered at Bull Run, Va. 

Under date of August 6, 1861, Hon. John 8. Phelps and Hon. Frank P. Hlair, jr., 
Mernbers of the House of Representatives from the State of Missouri, addressed to the 
President a letter, in which they recommended the organization of a volunteer force 
to serve for six months, "to be employed in preserving peace and quiet" in the State 
of Missouri, to repel threatened invasion, "to remove the seat of war from among the 
people of that State to the southward, to invade Arkansas, and to keep the Indians 
west of that State under subjection." 

Eleven regiments of six or twelve months' volunteers were organized in the State of 
Missouri during the civil war. Their status was that of volunteers in the military 
service of the United States. 

The rights of officers and men of these troops to the benefits of bounty and pension 
laws is unquestioned, and the same may be said of the one, two, or three year volun- 
teers, of which but one regiment was mustered into the United States service, the 
F'ifty-fifth Missouri Volunteers, and it served but a little over four months, when, the 
war being practically ended, it was mustered out of service August 13, 1865. 

Missouri Home Guards, 1S61 — From the commencement of the war Union-lovii^g 
and patriotic citizens of Missorri were anxioivs and willing to enlist lo rei)el invasion 
by confederate troops or guerrillas and to cnish out the disloyal and .s(ccss;ion element 
of that border State, (loncral Lyon was one of the iirst to call the attention of the 
Government at AA'ashirgton to the dangerous conditions in Missouri and recognized 
the value of the offer of the loyal citizens to enlist, and on June 11, 1861, he was 
authorized by the Secretary of War to enlist in the service of the United States such 
loyal citizens of Missouri as he thought proper, who should receive pay only when 
called into active service by the War Department. Under this authority the "Mis- 
souri Home Guards" of 1861 were organized. Rut although frequently, under the 
authority of the \\'ar Dej)artnient, these troops were called upon to and did render 
faithful and efficient service, their services were not ])aid for until Congress took up 
the matter, and by a scries of enactments appointed a commission called the Hawkins 
Taylor Commission, and their conclusions and subsequent action thereon are fully 
set forth in Senate Document 412, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session, pages 152 to 
164, inclusive. 

Those who served in the Missouri Home Guards, 1861, who were actually employed 
in the military service of the United States, have, through congressional legislation, 
the action of the Hawkins Taylor Commission, and the rulings of the executive depart- 
ments, been placed upon the same footing as volunteers in the service of the United 
States with regard to pay, bounty, and pension, and discharges from the United States 
service are authorized. 

OTHER MIS.SOURI OROANIZATIONS. 

1. Missouri Militia, organized uiuler state convention ordinance dated April 8, 
1865. 

2. Citizen Guards, called out and organized under orders of General Rosecrans 
No. 176, September 26, 1864, and other orders. 

3. Marine Corps, orgarazed by General Fremont, not entirely or largely of Mis- 
sourians, but from several States. 

4. Fremont's irregular organization generally. 

None of these organizations or members of them have ever been accoixled a status as 
United States Volunteers. They have never been recognized by the Congress or the 
President or any executive department of the Government as entitled to the benefits 
of any bounty or pension law of the United States. 

The foregoing is a summary of the status of all the Missouri Volunteer and Home 
Guard Militia troops who participated at all in military operations in that State and 
that section during the civil war. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 39 

The following extract Troni tlie decision of Assistant Secretary of 
Interior John M. Kevnolds, in the case of James L. Ilicks (Pension 
Decisions, vol. 8, pp. 518-530), is also of interest as showing the 
military and pensionable status of the Missouri troops that were in 
service during the war: 

There were in the State of Missouri, from the outbreak up to the '.micI of the civil 
war, different bodies of men organized for military purpos^es under variijus conditione 
and circumstances, the purposes for which they were organized varyinir greatly. 
These organizations were: The Three Months N'olunteers, the Six Months Militia, the 
Missouri State Militia, the EnroUed Missouri Militia, the Missouri Ilonn^ CJuards, the 
provisional regiments of Enrolled Missouri Militia, and the ])rovitfi(jiial companies of 
Enrolled Missouri Militia. 

When President Lincoln, on April 15, 18()1, issued his prockunatioii calling for 
75,000 men, the state government of Missouri refused, through Go\ernf)r Jackson, to 
furnish its quota, said government at the time being in sympathy w ilh the secession 
cause. Accordingly, on April M), 1861, Captain Lyon, in command of the St. Louis 
Arsenal, was authorized by the President — said authorization being conxeyed through 
proper channels — to enroll and equip not more than 10,000 men for the purpose of 
maintaining federal authority. I'nder this order there were some 10 regiments 
formed which, at the time, were called Three Months Volunteers. These regiments, 
upon the completion of their organization, were mustered in the United States service 
and became thereby' a part of the Federal Army, and the members thereof have con- 
sequently a pensioiiable status under subdivision 1, section 4093. Revised Statutes. 
Later "on the said state goA-ernment was overthrown, a provisional go\ernment 
which was in sympathy with the Federal Government was formed, and said govern- 
ment, through its governor, H. R. Gamble, issued an order, dated Augu.st 24, 1861, 
the terms of which called for a force of 42,000 men "for the purj)ose of maintaining 
the power of the Federal Government." The organizations formed under this order 
were called Six Mouths Militia, and were organized wholly for the purpose of state 
defense. They were never called into the service by the President, never acted 
under orders of an officer of the United States, and consequently the members of 
such Six Months Militia do not fall within section 4C93 of the Revised Statutes. 

In December, 1861, a military force was organized in the State of Missouri, under 
authority of the War Department of the United States, which force was known as 
the Missouri State Militia. There were in these organizations from L0,000 to 13,000 
men. They were all enlisted and regularly mustered into the federal service, and 
have, therefore, title under subdivision 1, secticm 4093, Revised Statutes. 

In July, 1862, the goverrior of Missouri called into the service of his State all arms- 
bearing citizens subject to military duty. This was done by virtue of Special Order 
101, and all organizations formed under said order were known as the Enrolled Mis- 
souri Militia. The United States Government furni.shed these troops with subsistence 
and transportation, with clothing, camp and garrison equipage while in act^ive state 
service. They were, however, never called into the .service of the United States by 
the President," never acted under orders of any United States officer, and consequently 
are not pensionable under anv existing law. . 

During the year 1861 there were a large number of military organizations in the 
State of^Misso'uri known as the Missouri Home Guards. These organizations were 
not reorganized as militia, were never ordered or accepted into the federal service 
by the President but they performed military service in Missouri during the summer 
and fall of 1861, under the orders of officers of the United States, which service was of 
notable benefit to the Federal Government. By reason of such service an act was 
passed on March 25, 1862, which provided for pay, bounty, and pension to all mem- 
bers of such organizations. On July 12, 1862, however, payment was suspended 
under this act and a commission was created which was appointed on March 18, 1863, 
and is now known bv the name of its chairman as the Hawkins Taylor tommission. 
To this commission 'was delegated the duty to examine and report upon all claims 
presented by persons under the act of March 25, 1862. This commission reported that 
the Mi.ssour'i Home Guards were divided into two classes, the first ol which was com- 
po.sed of companies organized for the protection of their respective neighborhoods 
The commission stated that the claims of this class did not come under cither the ac«t 
of March 25, 1862, or the act creating the commission. The members ot class 1 are, 
therefore, held as nonpensionable. Class 2, however, was made up ol all ..rganizations 
which were regularlv called out and which actually served in the held under autlionty 
from the Federal Government. Members of class 2 are therefore held to be wittiin 
the general law. 



40 FEDEBAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

The decision of the Hawkins Taylor Commission, which is based upon its records, 
is held to be final so far as actual ser\-ice and length of service is concerned, and in 
the Missouri Home Guards' claims, where service is not shown either by the records 
of the Adjutant-General of the United States or by the report of the Hawkins Taylor 
Commission, members of such organizations have no pensionable status. 

By virtue of a circular letter from the Missouri state authorities, dated February 3, 
1863, the provisional regiments of Enrolled Missouri Militia were formed. These 
regiments were made up of a picked force from the Enrolled Missouri Militia. They 
were formed for continuous active service so long as the emergency existed, and the 
act of March 3, 1873, was passed, whereby the benefits of the general law were extended 
to these organizations. The proWsions of said act have been incorporated in the 
Revised Statutes in section 4722, and this section governs the pensionable status of 
members of the pro\asional regiments of Enrolled Missouri Militia. 

There were organized in June, 1864, military bodies which came into existence by 
virtue of General Order 107, which order emanated from the adjutant-general of 
the State, the object of which, it ajjpears, was to provide military bodies for state 
defense. These provisional companies were solely state organizations and were 
organized for state purposes, none of the companies appearing to have ever done 
any federal service. They were never mustered into the federal service and were 
never recognized by federal authorities, ^^^aen relieved from duty their arms, 
ammunitions, and accouterments were turned over to the State. Members of these 
organizations, therefore, are not entitled to pension under any law. 

It may be stated, then, as conclusions based upon the foregoing: 

The Three Months' Volunteers are pensionable under the first subdivision of sec- 
tion 4693 of the Revised Statutes. 

The Six Months' Militia are not pensionable under any existing law. 

Company A, Kimball's Six Months' Militia, Missouri, was never in the federal 
service. Joseph Kennedv (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 188 L. B., 97); Thomas Haladay 
(Asst. Sec. Bussey, 5 P. D., 413). 

Company A, Mercer County Battalion, Six Months' Missouri Militia, was never in 
the federal service, and the act of P'ebruary 15, 1895, does not apply to said organi- 
zation. James Vanderpool (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 188 L. B., 482). 

The Missouri State Militia are pensionable under the first subdivision of section 
4693, Revised Statutes. 

The Enrolled Missouri Militia are not pensionable under any existing law. 

Companv A, Mercer Countv Battalion, Missouri Militia, was never in the federal 
service. E. A. Hunt (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 183 L. B., 441). 

Members of the Enrolled Missouri Militia have no ])ensiouable status under the 
general law or the act of Juno 27, 1890. James H. Motlev (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 111 
L. B., 63); G. H. Daniel (ibid, 112 L. B., 459), and John Schaffer (ibid, 122 L. B., 
167). 

A member of Company I, Seventy-first Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, is not 
pensionable under the first paragraph of section 4693, Revised Statutes, not being 
enlisted in the service of the United States, nor under the third pai-agi'aph of said 
section, unless his claim was prosecuted to a successful issue prior to July 4, 1874, not 
under section 4722, Revised Statutes, as the provisions of said section do not extend 
to the Enrolled Missouri Militia. John W. Delany (Sec. Teller, 15 P. D., o. s., 353). 

Soldier's .service being in the Eighty-seventh Enrolled Missouri Militia, which was 
not in the service of the United States, a claim for pension by his minor children is 
not valid unless prosecuted to a successful issue prior to July 4, 1874, under sections 
4693 and 4702. Revised Statutes. Minors of Hamilton S. ^^'ilson (Asst. Sec. Hawkins, 
2 P. D., 364). 

There being no record that the Thirty-fom'th Enrolled Missouri Militia was in the 
service of the United States, and claim not having been prosecuted to a successful 
issue as prescribed by section 4693. Revised Statutes, rejection of claim was proper. 
Frank ^\■. Toppmeyer (Sec. Schurz. 6 P. D., o. s., 407). 

The pnnisions of the "Joint resolution to restore the status of the Missouri militia 
who ser\'ed during the late war" do not extend to the Enrolled Missouri Militia nor 
to the provisional comi)anies of Missouri militia. Widow of John H. Schuler (Asst. 
Sec. Reynolds, 8 P. D., 462). 

Section 4722, Revised Statutes, does not extend the benefits of the general pension 
laws to the whole of the Enrolled Missouri Militia, but only to that comparatively 
small portion of it that was called the Provisional Missouri Militia or the Provisional 
Enrolled Missouri Militia, and to them only under the circumstances stated. Said 
section does not cover service in Company A, Fifty-sixth Regiment, Enrolled Mis- 
souri Militia: and as this claim was not filed until 1882, it is not admissible under 
the third paragraph of section 4693, Revised Statutes. Mary A. Seidenstein (Sec. 
Teller, 12 P. D., o. a., 367). 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 41 

]\Iembers of class 1 of the Missouri Home Guards are not pensionable under the first 
subdivision, section 4693, Revised Statutes. 

Neither Major Rajiley's Battalion, Company A, Missouri Home (liiards, nor ('apt. 
William R. Gregory's Company A, Butler County Home (Juards, appears of record 
by the Hawkins-Taylor Commission report, or by the record of the Adjutant-General 
of the United States, and members thereof have no pensionable status. Riley Hutch- 
inson (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 126 L. B., 237). 

Neither the Jackson County Home Guards nor the Westport Missouri State Militia 
appear of record by the Hawkins-Taylor Commission or the Adjutant-Cieneral ot the 
United States Army, and members of these organizations have no pensionable status. 
Albert Flacy (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 121 L. B., 436). 

Members of class 2 of the ^Iissouri Home Guards are pensionable under the first 
subdivision, section 4693, Revised Statutes. 

Members of class 2, Missouri Home Guards, are pensionable under first subdivi- 
sion, section 4693, Revised Statutes. Messer and Morrison (Asst. Sec. Bussey, 6 
P. D., 20). 

The officers and members of the German Regiment, Missouri Home Guards, their 
widows and children, are entitled to pension. Charles J. H. Noach (Sec. Schurz, 
7 P. D., o. s.,_250). 

The Provisional Regiments of Enrolled Missouri Militia are pensionable under the 
first subdivision, section 4693, Revised Statutes. 

The claim of a member of a provisional regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, comes 
under section 4722, Revised Statutes, but the United States is not charged with any 
duty in regard to the records of the military forces to which such section applies, as 
such forces were within the State of Missouri and cooperating with the United States 
forces; and the decision in James H. Carpenter, concerning the records of the War 
Department, does not apply, as it refers only to those organizations which were 
accepted into the service of the United States. John C. Hargraves (Sec. Kirkwood, 9 
P. D., o. s., 166). 

Provisional regiments, Em-olled Missouri Militia, are pensionable under section 
4722, Revised Statutes. Messer and Morrison (Asst. Sec. Bussey, 6 P. D., 20). 

The pro\'isional companies of Enrolled Missouri Militia were companies organized 
under General Order 107, which emanated from the governor of Missouri, and mem- 
bers thereof are not entitled to pension under any law. 

Captain Cook's company, Boone Coi;nty Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia, was 
a pro\'isional company, and members of such organization have no pensionable status. 
Thomas Hundel (Asst. Sec. Reynolds, 118 L. B., 488). 

It may be stated that nothing in this opinion should be construed as cutting off the 
pensionable status of any indi\-idi.'al who claims by reason of indi\idi'al per.sonal serv- 
ice under subdi\'isi(m 3, section 4093, Revised Statutes, subject, however, to the limi- 
tations therein contained; and that the report of the Hawkins Taylor commission is 
conclusive only as to those organizations which were in existence at the time the said 
commission closed its examination. 

But little need be said as to applicability of the ad of June 27, 1890, to members 
of the different State militia or State military organizations. A conditional prece- 
dent for pensionable status under said act is ninety days' service in the military or 
naval forces of the United States and an honorable discharge from such ser\'i(e. It 
therefore follows that unless a soldier was in the military or naval ser\'ice of the 
United States (his status being determined by subdivision 1, or class 1, subdi\-ision 3 
of section 4693, Revised Statutes) he does not fall within the provisions of the act of 
June 27, 1890, and in many of the decisions cited in this opinion it has been held 
that claimants are not entitled to the benefits of said act for the reason that they 
were never in the militarv or naval service of the United States. 

By joint resolution approved February 15, 1895, the provisions of the act of June 
27, 1890, were extended to "officers and privates of the Missouri State Militia and 
the Provisional Missouri Militia," thus virtually allowing a pensionable status under 
the act of June 27, 1890, to those individuals who were pensionable according to the 
general law under section 4722, Revised Statutes. .... 

The provisions of the "joint resolution to restore the status of the ]\Iissouri Militia 
who served during the late war" do not extend to the Enrolled Missouri Militia, nor 
to the provisional companies of Missouri Militia. Widow of J©hn H. Schuler. (Asst. 
Sec. Reynolds, 8 P. D., 462.) . ... 

It may be further stated that the report of the Hawkins Taylor Commission is 
accepted as final under the act of June 27, 1890, as to length of service if the report 
of said commission shows that it passed upon that question. 



42 FEDEEAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

OHIO. 

Ohio on several occasions during the war furnished mihtia for the 
purpose of protecting; her borders and repelhng invaders within her 
boundaries. On September 1, 1862, when Gen. Kirby Smith's con- 
federate troops invading Kentucky marched rai)idly toward the Oliio 
River with the intention of making an attack upon the city of Cin- 
cinnati, Gen. Lew Wallace, then in command of the United States 
forces at that post, called out the militia of that cit3^ 

Under this call the Second, Sixth, Eighth, and Eleventh Regiments 
Ohio Militia were organized, and they Avere at once ordered to the 
front in the State of Kentucky l)y Maj. Gen. H. G. Wright, then com- 
manding the Department of the ()hio. These regiments served faith- 
fidly doing guard and picket duty, and when an engagement with the 
forces of Gen. Kirby Smith seemed imminent were in line of battle 
all day. At the encl of thirty days they were discJuirged from further 
service, the apparent danger for which they were called out being 
over. Congress provided for the pay and recognition of these troops 
by acts ap})roved June 8, 1864, and July 5, 1866, and they are now 
considered as having been in the military service of the United States, 
and have pensionable status under the general law. 'I heir service 
of thirty davs entitles them to no pensionable rights untler the act 
of June '2 7, 1890. 

Capt. S. AV. Bard's company of cavalry antl Capt. August Paulsen's 
battery, of Cincinnati, were ordered into service at the same time, and 
have been accorded recognition as United States forces under the 
act of Congress approved July 5, 1866. 

On July 12, 186:3, Governor Todd, by proclamation, ordered Ohio 
Militia into service for the purpose of resisting the threatened invasion 
of the State by the rebel forces under General Morgan. Tlie service 
the mihtia then renck'red was of brief chu-ation and comparatively 
unimportant. The records of the ofiice of the adjutant-general of the 
State of Ohio are not complete as to these troops and only slunN a 
roster of the com})any and regimental officers. 

The First Regiment Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery was, it is said, 
the first body of artillery to engage in the service of the United States 
during the civil war. It was hastened to the front on the 21st of 
April, 1861, and rendered valued service in the campaign in ^■v'est 
Virginia. They served until July 27, 1861. By some act of omission, 
due probably to the haste with winch they were sent to the front, this 
regiment was not mustered into the service of the United vStates. 
While all the other Ohio three-months' troops were mustered by 
United States officers and recognizetl as United States troops, this 
regiment, for some reason, was mustered out by a member of the 
governor's staff, antl until within a few years past was recognized as 
only a state organization. Congress, by act approved December 19, 
1902, j)rovi(k^d that the officers and enlisted men of the First Regiment^ 
Ohio Volunteer Artillery shall }>e held and considered to have been in' 
the military service.of and to have formed a part of the Military Estab- 
lishment of the United States during the period for wliich said organi- 
zation was enlisted and was in active service, in virtue of wdiich law 
they are given pensionable status. 



FKDKHAL AM) STATE MILI'IAKV ()U(JAN IZAI'IONS. 43 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

In tlu> early fall of 1S()2 and ajjjain in the caily suimiicr of l.SO;^ 
Pennsylvania oi-ganizod a larj^o body of militia or ('ni(M<;(Mi('y troops, 
primarily for the defense of the State and inci(h'ntMlIy and idtimately 
for the support of the Union armies unch'r McClellan and Meade in 
their fierce conflicts with Lee's army of northern Vir<j;inia in the eam- 
paig:ns north of the Potomac Jiiver, matle famous l)y the battles of 
South Mountain and Antietam, Maryland, and (Jettysburfj:, Pa. 

Twenty-six regiments of Pennsylvania emergency militia were 
raised in 1862, numbered from the first to the twenty-lifth, inclusive, 
and one known as the "National Guard Regiment," and also a num- 
ber of inde|)endent com))anies of infantry, cavalry, and ailillery. 
The following summaiy of tlu> organization and service of the Penn- 
sylvania Militia of 1S62 is taken from the History of Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, by Samuel P. Bates (vol. 5, pp. 1147, 1148): 

The rebel army had no sooner achieved its triumph in the sec'ond battle oi JJull 
llun than it hastened northward and commenced crossin<!; the Potomac. The southern 
border of Pennsylvania lay in ch)se i)roximity, all uni)rotecte(l, and by its rich har- 
vests invited invasion. The reserve corps, which was orij^inally organized for the 
state defense, had been called away to the succor of the hard-pressed army of Mct'lellan 
upon the Peninsula, and was now ujion the weary march, with ranks sadly thinned in 
the hard-fought battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Charles City Ooss Roads, and 
the second Bull Run, to again meet the foe, but powerle.-^s to avert the threatened 
danger. The result of the struggle on the plains of Manassas was no sooner known 
than the helpless condition of "the State, which had been apparent from the first, 
became a subject of alarm. On the 4th of September, (iovernor Curtin Issued a proc- 
lamation, calling on the people to arm iind prepare for defense. He recommended the 
immediate formation of companies and regiments throughout the Commonwealth, and, 
for the purposes of drill and instruction, that after :5 p. m. of each day all business 
houses be closed. On the iOth, the danger having become imminent, the enemy 
being abeady in Maryland, he issued a general order calling on all able-bodied men to 
enroll immediately for the defense of the State, and to hold themselves in readiness to 
march upon an hour's notice, to select officers, to provide themselves with such arms 
as could be obtained, with 60 rounds of ammunition to the man, tendering arms to 
•such as had none, and promising that they should be held for serxice for such tinie 
only as the pressing exigency for state defense should continue. On the following 
day, acting under the authorit\- of the President of the Inited States, the governor 
called for 50,000 men, directing them to report by telegraph for orders to move, and 
adding that further calls would be made as the exigencies should reriuire. The 
people everv where flew to arms and moved promptly to the state capital. 

One regiment and 8 companies were sent forward during the night of the 1-th, 
and others followed as fast as they could be organized. On the 14th the head of the 
Army of the Potomac met the enemy at South ilountain and hurled him l)ack through 
its passes, and on the evening of the 16th and day of the 17th a fierce Ixittle was 
fought at Antietam. In the meantinse the militia had rapidly concentrated at llagers- 
town and Chambersbiu-g, and Gen. lohn K. Reynolds, who was at the time com- 
manding a corps in the Army of the Potomac, had assumed command. Fifteen 
thousand men were pushed forward to Hagerstown and Hoonsl)oro, and a portion of 
them stood in line oi battle in close proximity to the field in readiness to advance, 
while the fierce fighting was in progress. Ten thousand more were posted in the 
vicinity of Greencastle and Chambersl)urg, and "about 25.000." says Governor C^ur- 
tin, in"his annual m.essage, "were at Harrisburg, on their way to liarrisburg. or in 
readiness and waiting for transportation to proceed thither." The Twent\-lifth Regi- 
ment, under command of Colonel Dechert, at the request of General Ualleck, was 
sent to the State of Delaware, to guard the Dujiont Powder Mills, whence the .National 
armies were principallv supplied. \U\t the enemy was defeated at Antietam and 
retreated in confusion across the Potomac. The emergency having passed, the iviilitia 
regiments were ordered to return to Harrisburg, and in accordance with llie conditions 
on v.diich thev had been called into service they wen^ on the 24th, mustered out 
and disbanded. The train on which the Twentieth Regiment was returning oyer 
the Cumberland Valley road collided, when nearing Harrisburg, with one passing 
in the opposite directitin. l)y which 4 men were kilh'd and :W injured. 



44 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

In a letter addressed to Governor Curtin by General McClellan, thanking him for 
his energetic action in calling out the militia and placing them in the field, the 
general adds: "Fortunately circumstances rendered it impossible for the enemy to 
set foot upon the soil of Pennsylvania, but the moral support rendered to my army 
by your action was none the less mighty. In the name of my army and for myself 
I again tender to you our acknowledgments for your patriotic course. The manner 
in which the people of Pennsylvania responded to your call and hastened to the 
defense of their frontier no doubt exercised a great influence upon the enemy." In 
an order issued by Governor Bradford, of Maryland, soon after the battle he says: 
"To Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, and the militia of his State who rallied with 
such alacrity at the first symptoms of an invasion, our warmest thanks are also due. 
The readiness with which they crossed the border and took their stand beside the 
Maryland brigade shows that the border is, in all respects, but an ideal line, and 
that in such a cause as now unites us Pennsylvania and Maryland are but one." 

These militia troops were organized at various dates between Sep- 
tember 1 and 21, 1862, and were discharged at various dates between 
September 15 and October 15, 1862. The longest period of service 
for any of them was one month. 

In June, 1863, a considerable body of Pennsylvania state troops 
were organized to meet the emergency occasioned b}^ the threatened 
invasion of that State by the Confederate army under General Lee. 
These troops were not mustered into the service of the United States, 
but were called out b}^ Governor Curtin for the defense of the State 
as long as the exigencies of the time required. They are generally 
known as the "Emergency militia or the ninety-day mihtia of 1863," 
and consisted of 28 regiments of infantry from the thirty-second to 
the sixtieth, inclusive (except the thirty-third), together with several 
batteries and independent companies. They nimibered about 
25,000 men and were temporarily under the command of United 
States officers and were cooperating with United States forces. 
They were not mustered into the military service of the United 
States, but they were placed under command of officers of the United 
States, and while so commanded they were taken beyond the limits 
of the State and kept beyond those limits for a comparatively short 
period. The following is taken from Bates's History of Pennsylvania* 
Volunteers (vol. 5, pp. 1227 et seq.) regarding this militia force: 

On the 20th (Juno, 1863) Governor Curtin issued his proclamation declaring that 
the enemy in force was advancing upon the border and calling for 60,000 men to 
be mustered into the service of llie State for ninety days, but to n-main only so long 
as the safety and honor of the Commonwealth .''hould require. Under this call 28 
regiments of infantry, numbered from the thirty-second lo the sixtieth (except the 
thirty-third), besides several independent companies and batteries, were organized. 
Five of these regiments, the fifty-fourth to the flfty-eighth, inclusive, were organized 
in the Department of the Monongahela, at camps established in the vicinity of Pitts- 
burg; the remainder in the Department of the Su.squehanna — the forty-sixth in a camp 
at Huntingdon, the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, forty-first, forty-second, forty-third, 
forty-eiglitli and fifty-third at Reading, the iifty-first, fifty-second, fifty-ninth, and 
sixtieth at Piiiladel])hia, and the remaining regiments at Harri.sburg. 

During the 1st . 2d, and '.k\ days of July a fierce battle was fought about Gettysburg, 
in which the rebel army was beaten and compelled to retire toward the Potomac. So 
rapid were the movements of the armies and so .soon after the call for the militia was 
made was tlie decisive liattle fought that the men had scarcely arrived in camp and 
been organized before tlie danger was past. The major portion of those ass(>mbled 
at Plarrisburg were pushed forward up the Cumberlancl Valley, a part of them joining 
the Army of the Potomac in Maryland, and stood in readiness to participati' in the 
battle which it was ant icipated would be fought in the vicinity of Williams])ort . But 
on the 13th and 14th the rebel army made good its escape, and the campaign was at 
an end. 

The militia was, howi>ver, held for some time after this, and was employed on various 
duty. Th(? Thirty-sixth Regiment was sent to Gettysburg, and its commanding 
officer, (^ol. H. C. Alleinan, was made military governor of the district embracing the 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 45 

battle ground. It was engaged in gathering in the wounded and straggh-rs from both 
armies, in collecting the debris of the field, and in sending away tlic wounded as fast as 
their condition would permit. The Fifty-first Rigimeiil, ( oloiicl lioi)kinson, wa.s 
also on duty at Gettysburg after the battle. The Forty-.-^evfiith Ki giiucnl, Col. .1. P. 
Wickersham, returned from the neigliborhood of Williamsport to Reading, and was 
thence sent to the mining regions of Schuylkill County, when; a collision wilii dis- 
affected parties for a time was imnunent, but was avert<'d williout violence. The 
Thirty-eighth Regiment, Colonel Horn, the Forty-ninth. Colonel Murjiliy, and the 
Fifty-third, Colonel Royer, were also sent to portions of the State bordciiiig upon tlie 
Schuylkill and the >iorth liranch of the Susquehanna rivers, where th<'y were em- 
ployed iu enforcing authority. Tlie Thirty-fourth, Col. Charles Alll>right, was sent to 
Philadelphia, and arrived at a time when "turbulent spirits seemed intent on riot and 
bloodshed. Wild disorders sucli as at this time were raging in the streets of >;ew 
York appeared likely to break forth here at any moment, liy the exercise of great 
discretion and by a friendly conference with a class who could influence the mob he 
Bucceeded in allaying excitement and securing peace and quic t. The Forty -sixth, 
Col. John J. Lawrence, and the Fifty-ninth, Col. (jleorge P. McLean, were also sent to 
Philadelphia, where they rendered important service at a most critical time. 

On the litith of June (1863), the day after Lee crossed the Potomac, John Morgan, a 
daring rebel cavalry leader, set out from Sparta, Tenn., where lu; occupied a position 
on the flank of Bragg's army, with 2,000 men and 4 guns, for a raid through Ken- 
tucky, Indiana, and Ohio, intended as a diversion in favor of the invading army. 
Fighting his way to the Ohio River, having a sharp conflict at Tibbs Rend, on Green 
River, and picking up recruits as he went, until his force s were doubled and his guns 
were increased to 10, he crossed at Brandenburg, 40 miles below Louisville, on the 7th 
of July, and struck boldly out through the country, burning mills, destroyuig railroads 
and telegraph lines, and levying contributions of money and horses on the inhabitants. 
Trees were felled to impede his course, and the militia sprang up on all sides. 

******* 

WTien it became evident that Morgan, failing to escape, was heading toward Penn- 
sylvania, General Brooks was ordered to send out a portion of his forces by rail from 
Pittsburg, to guard the upper fords of the Ohio, and assist in the capture of the rebel 
chieftain. The Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Militia, Col. R. B. McComb, had been sent 
on the 11th (July) to Parkersburg, and when the approach of Morgan was heralded, 
in company with troops under Colonel Wallace, and three guns, it was po.sted at the 
fords in the vicinity, a part of the Fifty-fifth occupying the lower end of Blennerhassett 
Island. On Friday, General Brooks moved his headquarters temporarily to Wells- 
ville, and ordered three of his regiments, the Fifty-fourth, Col. Thomas F. Gallagher; 
the Fifty-seventh, Col. James R.TPorter; and the Fifty-eighth, Col. George H. Bemus, 
to move down, and take position at the different fords along the river between Steu- 
benville and Wheeling. The Fifty-seventh arrived first, and halting at Portland Sta- 
tion, took position to cover the Warrenton ford, Colonel Porter, with the right wing, 
occupying strong ground on the Hill road, and the left wing, under Major Reid, on 
the Valley road. The Fifty-eighth arrived next, and in conjunction with a section 
of artillery and two companies of Kentucky cavalry, occupied Le Grange, opposite 
Wellsville. The Fifty-fourth came last, and was ordered first to Mingo fetation, and 
afterwards to the ford at Rush Run, midway the positions of the other two regiments. 
On Friday night, the 24th, Morgan was near Mount Pleasant, heading for Warrenton 
ford, where he would have crossed but for the timely arrival of Colonel Porter. 
On Saturday morning, being pressed in the rear, he again attempted to break through 
at Warrenton, but finding his way blocked, he turned northw^ard toward Smithfield, 
feeling successively the positions of Gallagher and Bemus. Seeing that escape by 
these routes was equally hopeless, he again struck out and made for Richmond, passmg 
by Steubenville. At Wintersville, on Saturday afternoon, he encountered the Steu- 
benville militia, and at night bivouacked between Richmond and Springfield, hia 
scouts reconnoitering the fords above. To checkmate this last move, Porterscommand 
was moved up to Island Creek, while Gallagher and Bemus were posted at fords higher 
up, to intercept him if he should strike for Shanghai, Yellow Creek, or pomts further 
on. Learning by his scouts that all the avenues of escape were strongly held, he did 
not await the^ coming of the morning, but moved in the darkness in the direction of 
Salineville, where he was early attacked by Major Way, of the Michigan cavalry, and 
lost some three hundred in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Colonel Gallagher had 
reached Salineville by the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad, and had formed line 
of battle near the village; but after the charge of Major Way, the enemy drew off in 
the opposite direction and turned again northward, as if to strike Smiths ferry or 
Beaver. 



46 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

Again were the Pennsylvania regiments moved up and preparations made to meat 
this new disposition, when tidings were received ;hat General Shaekleford had cap- 
tured Morgan and what was left of his band. The prisoners were at once placed in 
charge of the Fifty-eighth, and were held until turned over to the authorities of the 
department, by w^hom they were incarcerated in the Ohio penitentiary, in retalia- 
tion for alleged irregular treatment of Colonel Straight by the rebel government. 
As soon as the chase for IMorgan was ended, the Pennsylvania redments returned to 
camp near Pittsburg. 

With the close of this raid ended the rebel invasion of the North of 1863. Further 
service for which the militia had been called was no longer required, and during 
the months of August and September the majority of the men were mustered out*! 
With few exceptions, they were not brought to mortal conflict. Hut thev, never- 
theless, rendered most important service. They came forward at a moment when 
there was pressing need. Their ])resence gave great moral supi^ort to the Union 
Army, and had that army been defeated at Gettysburg, thev would have taken the 
places of the fallen and would have fought with a valor and desperation worthy of 
veterans. Called suddenly to the field from the v,alks of private life, without a 
moment's opportunity for drill or discipline, they grasped their muskets and by 
their prompt obedience' to every order showed their willingness, all unprepared as 
they were, to face an enemy before whom veterans had often <)uailed. The l)lood- 
less campaigns of the militia may be a subject for playful satire, but in the strong 
arms and sturdy hearts of the yeomanry of the land, whospring to arms at the moment 
of danger and when that danger has passed cheerfullv lav them down again, rests a 
sure guaranty for the {)eace and security of the country. " 

The Peiins^ivania militia regiments of 1863 were organized at 
various dates between June 26 and July 13, 1863, and were mustered 
out at various dates between August 1 and September 9, 1863. A 
very Hew of them were in service for about sixty davs; the greater 
number served but little more than tliirty days. 

The oilicers and men of the Pennsylvania Militia are given a, pen- 
sionable .status under tlie general law at the Pension Bureau by a 
decision ol" the Assistant Secretary of the Interior ren(kn-ed March. 3, 
1892. in the case of Randolph M. Manley, Company I, Forty -seventh 
Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, and reported in volume 5 of Pension 
Decisions, page 295. Their very brief service precludes anv pension- 
able statiis under the act of June 27, 1890. but if any of 'them had 
served ninety days a pensionable service under that law by virtue 
of the above decision woidd undoid^tedly be recognized. 

The basis of the decision which gives the members of the Pennsyl- 
vania Militia a ijensionable status is that they were called into service 
by the Pr(>sident of the Ijiited States and were, therefore, officers and 
enlisted men of militia employed in the military service of the United 
States as contemplated by the first paragraph of section 4693, 
Revised Stautes, which confers a pensionable benefit upon — 

any officer of the army, including regular.^!, volunteers, and militia, or any officer in 
the Navy or Marine Corps, or any enlisted man, however employed, in the military 
or naval service of the United States,. or in its Marine Corps, whether regularly mus- 
tered or not, disabled by reason of any woinid or injurv received, or disease contracted, 
while in the service of the United States and in the line of duty. 

A distinctly difl'erent view, however, regarding the militarv status 
of the Pennsylvania Militia is taken by the AVar Department, the 
holding there being that these troops should not be considered as in 
the military service of the United States in the sense that they were 
a part of its mihtary establishment, inasmuch as thev were raised in 
response to a call, not of the President of the United S'tates, but of the 
governor of the State of Pennsylvania, in which it was stated that 
"they will be mustered into the service of the State for the period 
of ninety days, but will be required to serve only so much of the period 



FEDKKVL AND fiTATK MILirAKV ( >l{(iAM/A IIUNS. 47 

of muster as the safety of our people and the honor of our State may 
require." An exhaustive statement rejj:ar(hng tliis matter is con- 
tained in a letter adth-essed by Cieneral Ainsworth to the Commissioner 
of Pensions, (hited February 13, 1S99, wliieh is j)iinted as a |)art of 
Senate Adverse Report No. 899, Fifty-.sixth Con<];ress, first session. 
That letter concludes with the statement that the military statu.s 
of the Pennsylvania ninety-da}^ state militia of 1863 is not dCscribed 
by any words used in the first parajjraph of section 4()93, Revi.sed 
Statutes, quoted al)ove, but that it is accurately and precisely 
described in tlie third ])ara<;raph of that section by the words ''Any 
person not an enlisted soldier in the army, servin<i; for the time beinj; 
as a member of the militia of any State, under orders of an oflicer of 
the United States," and to such person that law <2;ave only a limited 
pensionable status, namely, a status for wound or injury received in 
battle with the rebels or Indians, })rovided the claim was fiknl and 
completed prior to July 4, 1874, as ex})lained in the first padres of this 
document. 

However divertjent these views may be rei^ardini!; tlic military 
status of the Pennsylvania Mihtia, the fact remains that, whether 
properly or improperly, the members thereof are recognized at the 
bureau for full pensionable status under the general law. It is j)roper 
to remark that the adverse rejiort (899) above mentioned was made 
on a bill (S. 394) proposing recognition by the National Government 
of the military status of the Pennsylvania Militia of 1863, thus show- 
ing that Congress adopted the view of the War Departni(>nt regarding 
the military status of that body of troo])S. 

The Erie regiment of Penn.sylvtinia obtained some notoriety re- 
cently by reason of the erroneous allowance of pension to a few of its 
members, resulting in the resignation of several examiners of the 
Pension Bureau. This regiment was commanded by Col. John W. 
McLane, and consisted of 10 companies numbering about 800 men, 
rank and file. It was recruited in Erie and Crawford counties, Pa., 
and was organized April 21, 1861. It proceeded to Pittsburg April 
28, and after three months went back to Erie, whence they had 
gone forth to do battle, without having seen the enemy, and was dis- 
banded. It performed no service other than that of ilrill and guard 
duty. This regiment was not mustered into the military service of 
the United States and was never accepted or recognized as forming a 
part of the military establishment of the Federal Government, and its 
members have no pensionable status under existing laws. A consid- 
erable number of the ofhcers and men of the Erie regiment served 
later in the Eighty-third, One hundred and eleventh, and One hundred 
and forty-fifth and other regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

TENNESSEE. 

The adjutant-general of Tennessee, replying to the letter addressed 
to him, forwards a report of the state archivist, who states that he 
finds no data from which to make a list of the Tennessee home guards 
and irregular troops that were in service during the war. The pub- 
lished report of the adjutant-general of Tennessee foi- the |)eriod of 
the war contains no information on this subject. 



48 



FEDEKAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 



WEST VIRGINIA. 

The following reply was received to the letter addressed to the 
adjutant-general of the State of West Virginia for information as 
to the West Virginia state militia and home guards in service during 
the war: 

State of West Virginia, 

Adjutant-General's Office, 

Charleston, May 6, 1905. 
Sir: By direction of the adjutant-general, I have the honor to acknowledge receipt 
of your letter dated May 4, 1905, and have noted carefully the information you desire. 
I regret exceedingly to" advise you that the records for services rendered as stated by 
you are very incomplete, and part of them made out in a very crude manner by the 
commanding oflicers of the several organizations. These records have never been 
tabulated or a consolidated report made of this service; in fact, no history or report 
was ever published of the militia or state organizations for services rendered during 
the civil war, the legislature never making any appropriation for this work. From the 
condition of the records in question it would take from four to five months to prepare 
a complete and comprehensive statement as desired by you. This, I regret, can not 
be done on account of the lack of funds to meet the clerical expense. 
Very respectfully, 

A. S. HUTSON, 

Assistant Adjutant-General. 
The Chairman Committee on Pensions, 

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. 

The published report of the adjutant-general of the State of West 
Virginia, dated January, 1866, pages 391, 392, contains the following 
list of West Virginia State guards organized during the war in differ- 
ent counties for the protection of such counties against guerillas: 



Counties for which organized. 



Barbour. 



Braxton 

Calhoun 

Clay 

Doddridge. 

Gilmer 

Greenbrier. 

Lewis 

Jackson 

Do 

Wood 

Roane 

Do 

Do.... 
Wirt 

Do.... 

Pendleton. 



Oct. 
Apr. 
Nov. 
May 
Dec. 
Sept. 



3, 1863 

16. 1863 
4. 1863 
9,1864 

13. 1864 
9, 1863 

Aur. 14,1863 

.....do 

Aus. 15,1863 
Oct. 30,1813 

do 

do 

Feb. 18.1864 
Sept. 2,1864 

Apr. 8, 1863 
Do June 26, 1863 



Date of 
organization. 



Date of 
discharge. 



Sept. 17, 1863 j May 30, 1865 
Jan. 30,1864 Mar. 10,1865 



Upshur Sept. 4.1863 

Tutnam Apr. 7, 18(i4 

\Vi)vne I Dec. 9,1S03 

Preston Mar. 1,1864 

Tucker Jan. 20,1864 

Nicholas , Mav 3,1864 

Hardy \ Dec. 9,18(i3 



Do.... 

Do 

Waviie 

Do.... 

Do.... 

Raleigh 

Wyoming. 



June 24.1804 
Sept. 5. lS(i4 
Mar. 22,1864 

do 

May 7, 1864 
Jan. 23,1864 
do 



June 16,1864 
May 30,1865 
June 20, 1864 
Mav 30,1805 
July 1.1865 
Nov. 9, 1864 
May .30 1S65 
Aug. 20,1864 
Mav 30,1865 
June 11), 1864 
Mav 30,1865 

....:do 

June 20,1804 
May 20,1805 

May 31,1865 



Apr. 

June 
Mav 
May 
Apr. 



Name of captain. 



15, 1865 

9, 1804 

30,1805 

9, 1804 

5,1804 

May 30,1805 

June 30,1865 
Mar. 10,1805 
Apr. 15.1805 
Mar. 10.1805 
May 9. 1804 

do 

Sept. 20,1864 
July 20.1805 
Feb. 10,1805 



G. M. Yeager. 

M. T. IlaUer. 

Moore McNeel. 

M. Rollvson. 

1. F. Taylor. 

VVm. F.llison. 

n. L. Stephenson. 

H. S. Savre. 

W. T. Wiant. 

A. W. Mann. 

J. C. Wilkinson. 

G. Ij. Kennedy. 

John Johnson. 

Wm. Logsdon. 

A. Donaldson. 

H. Chapman. 

Wm. Gandee. 

H. S. Burns. 

Wm. F. Pell. 
I/E. V. Harper. 
\John Boggs. 

Isaac ,\lt. 

M. Mallow. 

J. L. Kesling. 

John Ball. 

W. R. Si)aulding. 

M. M. Pierce. 

N. J. Lambert. 

1. II. Lambert. 

J. R. Ramsay 

J. S. Bond. 

John Yocum. 

J. Rohrbouch. 

Wm. Ba.'tnim. 

Ira G. ( OTilPV. 

Benj. R. Haley. 

Wm. Turner. 

S. MuUins. 




FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY UHOANIZATK »NS. 49 



.\';iiiic of ciiptain. 

Kanawha I Jan. 2S, 1804 Sept. 2(>, is(i4 H. Hrooks. 

Nicholas Apr. 28, 18ti4 Dec. 13, IS(i4 Isaac Hrown. 

Marion June 20, ISCS Dec. 10, 1H(;4 \. Alllop. 

Ritchie May 7,1804 Apr. :10, IHO.^ J.M.Woods. 

Randolph Apr. 12, 1804 ! Apr. 15. 1.hi,.-| S. Snider. 

Pocahontas Apr. 29. 1804 Apr. 4, 180.5 1}: yo,',^,"''"' 

Cabell Apr. 25,1805 May 30,1805 J. 11. Kr;rKU.soii. 

Monroe Apr. 6, 1805 June 20. 1805 B. F. Ballard. 

Do 1 Apr. 1,1805 do ' L. 1). <iarlon. 

Mason 1 June 20, 1S(.3 May 30, 1805 i A. I. Watcrson. 

Wirt Sept. 2, 1803 : Feb. 29, 1804 i G. W. VauKht. 

Pocahontas, Randolph, and Webster I May 1,1805 , June 10,1805 I Isaac W. Allen. 

Concerning these state guartl companies the adjutant-general 
of West Virginia in his report dated January 1, 1865, page 7, says: 

These companies are sworn into the service of the State for the term of one year, 
are paid and provided with arms, equipments, etc., by the State, and number from 
25 to 50, and in two or three of tlie counties as many as 75 men each, thu.s makintr 
over 1,000 men in the state service in the border counties, without which there could 
have been no enforcement of the civil laws of the State nor collection of re\eiiues 
for the United States, and the loyal people could not have remained at home. Al- 
though these companies are maintained at considerable expense to the State, yet I 
do not think their services could be very well dispensed with nor do I think the 
force should be diminished. During the past year they have participated in many 
engagements with the guerrillas, and have succeeded very well in the protection of 
those counties for which they are organized, and are quite able to do so, except against 
raids by large bodies of the enemy. This service is very arduous and dangerous, 
and such only as can be successfully accomplished by men who have lived in the 
country, who are thoroughly acquainted with it and the inhabitants. They are 
instructed to cooperate, as far as practicable, with the United States forces, and have 
proven very efficient as scouts and guides for our armies, and generally much more 
effective for the purpose for which they are intended than our soldiers in the United 
States service would be. During the past year we have received many favorable 
notices of the operations of these companies from the military commanders in different 
portions of the State. 

Again, in his report for the year 1865, dated January, 1806, pages 
8 and 9, referring to an appendix containing the foregoing list of com- 
panies of state guards, the adjutant-general of West Viiginia makes 
the following remarks : 

Appendix C is a statement of the organization and discharge of the companies of 
state guards organized in the border counties of the State for the protection of such 
counties against the marauding bands of guerrillas which have continually infested 
them since the commencement of the war. These companies were organized and 
paid by the State; many of them were in the service for nearly two years and some ot 
them for a longer period. Although they have been maintained at considerable ex- 
pense to the State, it can not be doubted that they have rendered very efficient 
service in the counties for which thev were organized; they have been a great protec- 
tion to the loyal people of the border counties, and have aided materially in the 
enforcement of the civil laws therein, without which those counties must have been 
abandoned by the loyal people, thus depriving them of representation m the legis- 
lature of the State and the State of considerable revenue. 

About the 1st of June (1865), at the request of the Secretary of \\ ar, nearly all these 
companies were discharged and their arms and other state property turned over to 
the quartermaster-general of the State, under orders issued Irom this office. Regular 
discharges were prepared for each member of these companies, a record ol which has 
been kept, that the men who have been engaged in this service may have the benefit 
of any legislation that may hereafter be made in their interest. -r i i 

The conduct of these companies with few exceptions has been uniformly good 
considering the slight restraint under which they were unavoidably held Much 
objection was made against the organization ot such companies for fear that they 

S. Doc. 378, 61-2 4 



k 



50 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

would, under the slight authority given them and by virtue of their power, go beyond 
their authority and commit unwarrantable depredations. In this, however, their 
most bitter enemies have been disappointed and the most sanguine hopes of their 
friends more than realized. 

West Virginia has also a body of state militia of which no definite 
information is obtainable, either from the state adjutant-general, as 
indicated by his letter above, or from the published reports of that 
officer. It appears that the state records of the militia were kept 
in a very imperfect and crude manner, but the Auditor for the War 
Department has records of the allowance for pay made to each indi- 
vidual member. This militia were called out on several occasions, 
and it is known that at least one company, namely, Company C, One 
hundred and thirty-third West Virginia Militia, was captured by the 
enemy while on duty at Centerville, W. Va., September 12, 1863, ' 
and its members confined in prisons at Richmond and Andersonville, 
suffering great hardships. Pensions by special act have been allowed 
in a few of these cases. 

Concerning the West Virginia Militia the adjutant-general of that 
State, in his report dated January 1, 1865, page 11, states as follows: 

I have prepared no statement of the organization of the militia of the State, from the 
fact that a full statement can not, at i)resent, be furnished. Under the new state 
organization it is necessary to renumber and reorganize the different regiments; this 
has only been done in the First Division. In many of the other counties it will be 
necessary where there are two or three regiments in a county to consolidate them, 
-and not l)eing able to tell, under existing state of things in those counties, what the 
real militia force is, it has been deemed expedient to defer it for a time. If possible, 
this should l)e done during the coming year. The militia laws of this State should be 
compiled and published in pamphlet form, together with forms for reports, certificates, 
and orders of regimental courts making allowances, etc., for the use of the militia. 

()n two or three occasions durinu- the })ast year it has been necessary to call out the 
Second and Third Brigades of militia, commanded by Generals Core and Bunker, to 
repel expected raids by the enemy, and the prom])tness with which these brigades ; 
responded to the orders and the cheerfulness with which they did duty as soldiers 
is indeed highly commendable. 

Again, in his report dated January, 1866, he states: 

No further attempt has been mad-e to organize the militia since the date of my last 
report. It was impossible to do so in a large number of the counties before the sup- 
pression of the reljellion, and it was believed that when the war ended some very 
material and necessary changes would be made in the militia system of the State. 

The state guards and mihtia of West Virginia have no pensionable 
status. 

The number of state militia, home guards, and emergency men that 
were in service during the war can not be exactly or defuiitely stated. 
Col. Thomas L. Liv^ermore, in his work entitled ''Numbers and Losses 
in the Civil War in America," says that the enlistments in the Union 
Army during tlte war of the rebellion numbered 2,898,304. which 
included al)out 230,000 militia and '' emergency men" who served short 
terms and some part of whom were not mustered into the United 
States service. He also says that this number of militia and "emer- 
gency men" must be reduced b}'" the number of them who had pre- 
viously served in the Volunteer Army and b}' those who subsequently 
enlisted and served in that army, being a part of the military estab- 
lishment of the United States. 



FEDERAL AND STATE MILITAHY OUUANIZATIONS. 51 

MISSISSIPPI RAM FLEET AND .MARINE BKKJADE. 

Another organization oi' a somiinilitarv or na\al cliaracler which 
pei-formocl valuable sorvico duriii*:; the civil war was the Mississippi 
Kam Fleet and Marine Briji;a(le. A part of this ori^jMiizalion was 
made up of enlisted men, and these, of course, have a |)ensi<)nal)le 
status under existinc; laws. But there were a nund)er of men who 
served as soldiers, ])ilots, and in other capacities who were employed 
by the Quartermaster's De])artmcnt, and these men, not havintr hoon 
mustered into the service, have no pensionable status. Numerous 
bills for their relief have been introduced in past Congresses, l)ut no 
action has been taken. 

The following report from the Adjutant-General gives a concise 
history of these organizations, ami the letter from the Commissioner 
of Pensions explains their status with reference to pensions: 

Relief of the men of the Mississippi Ram Fleet and Marine Brigade, their widovs and 
minor children, under the act of June 27, 1890. 

It is shown by the records that the Mississippi Ram Fleet was organized pursuant to 
instructions contained in a letter from the Secretary of War to Mr. Charles Ellet, jr., 
dated March 27, 1862, from which the followino; is an extract: 

"You will please proceed immediately to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and New Albany 
and take measures to provide steam rams for defense against ironclad vessels on the 
western waters. 

"All contracts and purchases will be made by the special quartermaster to be 
appointed to act with you, and all expenditures will be made by him and under his 
direction." .,. . . 

On April 25, 1862, Mr. Ellet was authorized to engage crews "at current Mississippi 
River wages." On April 28, 1862, he was appointed a colonel and additional aid-de- 
camp, and was placed in command of the fleet known as the "Ram Fleet." Upon 
his death, in June, 1862, he was succeeded by Lieut. Col. (subsequently Brig. Gen.) 
A. W. Ellet. 

Under the instructions cited above, 26 steamboats were converted into rams and 
transports during the vears 1862 and 1863. 

On November 11, 1862, Brigadier-General Ellet was authorized to organize a force, 
to be known as the "Mississippi Marine Brigade," for service in connection with the 
Ram Fleet. This force was made up partly from the members of volunteer organi- 
zations then in service, who were transferred to the Mississippi Marine Brigade, and 
partly from convalescents belonging to other volunteer organizations, who were per- 
mitted to be discharged from the regiments to which they belonged and to be remus- 
tered as members of the Marine Brigade. ■ j • 

The Mississippi Marine Brigade, as a separate organization, was discontinued in 
orders dated August 3, 1864, and such of its members as had been transferred to it 
were returned to the organizations to which they originally belonged, while those who 
had reo-ularlv enlisted into the force were consolidated into a regiment known as the 
"Marine Reo-iment, United States Volunteers," which was itself mu.^^tered out of 
service in pursuance of orders from this department dated December 5, 1864, its services 
being no longer required. . 

At the discontinuance of the Marine Brigade, in August, 1864, the vessels compos- 
ing the Ram Fleet, with which the Marine Brigade had .served, were turned over 
to^the Quartermaster's Department, to be assigned as a part of the reserve transpor- 

'^iT will be seen from the foregoing that the members of the Mississippi Marine Brigade 
were reo-ularly in the United States service, and, so far as this office is advised, they 
are on the same footing as regards all general laws passed for the benefit ol volunteers 
as are the members of other volunteer organizations in ser\ace during the same 

^^Nothino has been found of record to shoW that the crews of these vessels rmasters. 
pilots engineers, sailors, etc.), for whom relief is proposed in the pending bill, Nvere 
mustered into the military service of the United States, and there are no rolls or other 
records on file in this office from which their number or the nature or length ..f their 



J. 



52 FEDERAL AND STATE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 



service can be ascertained. It is probable, however, that they were paid for their 
services as civilian employees by the quartermasters on duty at or near the places 
where their services were rendered . 
Respectfully submitted. 

F". C. AiNSWORTH, 

War Department, The Adjutant-General. 

The Adjutant-General's Office, 
January 21, 1908. 
The Secretary op War. 



Department of the Interior, 

Bureau of Pensions, 
Washington, February 6, 1908. 

My Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of the 30th ultimo, received on the 31st, you 
are advised that early in the year 1862 a number of steamboats (nine, according to the 
data in this bureau) were purchased by the War Department and converted into rams 
for the specific purpose of operating against confederate war vessels then assembled in 
the lower Mississippi, and after the destruction of those vessels were used for general 
operations against the enemy. Supply vessels, hospital ships, etc., were added to the 
fleet from time to time and also transport vessels carrying armed men detailed from 
the regular military service and formed into an organization known as the Mississippi 
Marine Brigade and used chiefly against guerrillas along the river. They were en- 
listed men, and after the disbandment of the brigade in 1864 were returned to 
the regiments from which they had been detailed. IMost of the officers and crews 
of the vessels, however, were civilians employed by the Quartermaster's Department 
of the Army. 

Separate and distinct from the above was the Western Gunboat Flotilla or Mississippi 
Fleef . In 1861 the military authorities organized a fleet of steam gunboats for service 
on the western rivers. Vessels were purchased or built by the Quartermaster's De- 
partment and officers to command them were detailed from the navy, as were also 
some enlisted men, but the crews were very largely composed of civilians who were 
employed by the Quartermaster's Department of the Army. The vessels were em- 
ployed in active offensive operations against the enemy and participated in several 
engagements, notably at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Island No. 10, Pittsburg Landing, 
Memphis, and Vicksburg, and many persons employed on them were killed and 
wounded in action. On October 1, 1862, the members of this fleet were transferred 
to the navy under an act of Congress, and their service from that date is pensionable 
under the same conditions as other service in the navy. 

Persons who served as civilians on the war vessels of either of these fleets are pen- 
sionable for disability incurred in service by virtue of paragraph 2 of section 4693, 
Revised Statutes, as follows: 

"Any master serving on a gunboat, or any pilot, engineer, sailor, or other person 
not regularly mustered serving upon any gunboat or war vessel of the United States, 
disabled by any wound or injury received, or otherwise incapacitated, while in line 
of duty, for procuring his subsistence by manual labor." 

The words "gunboat or war vessel" are construed by this bureau to mean vessels 
which were manned and used in offensive and defensive operations against the enemy; 
so that civilians employed on vessels of the fleets used for other purposes are not now 
pensionable even for disability incurred in service. 

As to the number who would probably be affected by the extension of the provi- 
sions of the act of June 27, 1890, to the class of persons mentioned above, the bureau 
has very meager data upon which to base an estimate. If restricted to those who 
served on vessels of the Ram Fleet and Mississippi Marine Brigades, as provided by 
the bill of which you submit a copy, it would probably affect about 500 persons; if 
extended also to the Western Gunboat Flotilla, about 500 more. 
Very respectfully, 

V. Warner, Commissioner. 

Mr. R. W. Farrar, 

Clerk Committee on Pensions, United States Senate. 

o 



lEJe'lO 



